


After the War

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Disabled Character, Enemies to Friends, Female Severus Snape, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Parent-Child Relationship, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:28:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24413620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A year after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter was nearly finished with his time at Hogwarts, was happily raising his godson Teddy, and was actually beginning to forge a connection with someone he had been certain was an enemy. After finally beginning to feel comfortable with his post-war life, Harry's life is thrown into disarray yet again when people from his past return.
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note:
> 
> 1\. All recognizable content is the property of J.K. Rowling
> 
> 2\. This story contains some deviations from canon including original characters, female Severus Snape, non-canon relationships, among some other changes
> 
> 3\. Flashbacks will be in italics with the date in bold.

Harry James Potter woke up early on the morning of May 2, 1999 after a poor night's sleep. While he had finally begun having more good days than bad since the end of the war, getting out of bed on the day of the first anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts proved an extremely difficult task. In fact, if it hadn't been for Teddy climbing out of his bed and toddling over to him, his wolf cuddly toy tucked under his arm, Harry may not have gotten out of bed at all, especially as it was a weekend and he didn't have to worry about going to class.

A few months after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry, along with a few others in his Hogwarts year, including his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, had decided to go back to Hogwarts to finish their education. These students, dubbed "eighth-years" were housed in the Room of Requirement which had been turned into a living space for them complete with private bedrooms and a common room. While the Ministry of Magic had offered Harry a trainee Auror position only a few days after the Battle of Hogwarts despite him not completing his N.E.W.T.s, Harry did not want to be given a job solely because he was the "Boy-Who-Lived". He wanted to earn his place just like everyone else.

"Good morning, Teddy-bear," Harry greeted his godson, Edward Lyall Tonks-Lupin, as cheerfully as he could, hoping that the one-year-old wouldn't notice the sadness in his voice.

"Up!" Teddy said smiling brightly, his hair and eyes subconsciously changing to match Harry's.

Harry sat up in bed and groaned as he picked the child up.

"You've gotten heavy, haven't you?" Harry smiled at his godson who simply babbled in response. After Teddy's parents, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, were killed in the Battle of Hogwarts leaving Teddy without any family to look after him, Harry accepted full guardianship of him. While Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had offered to take care of Teddy full time while Harry was at Hogwarts, Harry insisted on raising Teddy, regardless of him being at Hogwarts. He did, however, drop Teddy off at the Weasleys during the times that he had to be in class, but he made sure to pick him up immediately after. In order to raise Teddy, Harry was given a room slightly larger than most of the eighth-years' rooms to hold everything a baby might need.

"Let's get dressed so we can go down for breakfast," Harry said, walking towards the dresser across from his bed. He had made a habit of speaking to Teddy in full sentences as often as he could, as Hermione had told him that it was a good way of improving the child's vocabulary. Having turned one just over a week ago, Teddy already knew four distinct words: Up, no, hi, and wow.

Just as Harry finished getting Teddy dressed and was about to begin dressing himself, the voice of Headmistress Minerva McGonagall sounded throughout the room.

"Good morning. This is Professor McGonagall. I ask that all students please remain in their dorms until further notice. House elves will bring breakfast to you. There shall be further announcements throughout the day. Thank you."

"That's odd," Harry stated out loud, wondering what was going on.

"Wow," Teddy said, sounding very much in awe, staring open-mouthed at the ceiling.

Harry chuckled at the child's amazement. He had to admit that, if it hadn't been for Teddy, he probably would've taken his invisibility cloak and left the dorms, dead set on figuring out what was going on. Now, however, he had to consider what would be best for Teddy's safety and wellbeing, and while he was certainly curious, he couldn't risk getting hurt or, worse, having Teddy get hurt.

After only a few more seconds of wonder, Teddy turned his attention back to his toy chest, immediately picking out the toy train set that Hermione had bought him.

"Do you like trains, Teddy?" Harry asked, laying on the floor next to Teddy after getting himself dressed.

Teddy babbled in what Harry felt to be agreement.

The rest of the morning went by fairly easily. Harry and Teddy ate breakfast and played games before Teddy lied down for his morning nap. As Teddy slept, Harry finished some of his homework, temporarily forgetting both about McGonagall's announcement and about it being the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts.

After only a few minutes, however, there was a knock on the door.

"Hello, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall greeted after Harry opened the door. Harry noticed that she was followed closely by the Potions professor and deputy headmistress, Severus Snape. He also noticed that both women looked a bit younger. In fact, they looked quite similar to how they did the first time Harry had ever met them, nearly eight years ago. "Can you come with me, please?"

"Erm, Teddy's actually taking a nap right now…" Harry stated, looking over at the sleeping child.

"It's alright, Mr. Potter," Professor Snape assured. "I'll watch him for you."

"Are you sure, Professor?" Harry asked, not wanting to inconvenience the Potions professor. While, prior to the end of the war, he would've asked this question out of fear for Teddy's life, he now trusted Professor Snape more than most others in his life, and genuinely felt concerned about troubling her. After witnessing Snape being attacked, and nearly killed, by Nagini and subsequently obtaining Snape's memories, Harry, covered by his invisibility cloak, apparated himself and his former professor to St. Mungo's Hospital, which had remained neutral in the war. While Harry had initially firmly believed that Snape was on Voldemort's side, he knew that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he had simply allowed her to die. After discovering Snape's true allegiance, Harry felt extremely relieved that he had saved her, so that he would have a chance to thank her in person.

* * *

**_June/July 1998 (Harry's POV)_ **

_Nearly a month after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry had finally gotten word from St. Mungo's that his former Potions professor Severus Snape had finally woken up._

_Due to his feelings of guilt for believing so staunchly that Snape was evil and his gratitude towards her for helping him at the expense of both her reputation and wellbeing, Harry had made a point of clearing Snape's name to the wizarding public, revealing all that she had done to help win the fight against Voldemort. He had also made a point of visiting Snape's hospital room everyday since the war ended, and had even convinced a few others to visit once or twice._

_As soon as Harry had finished his shift at Hogwarts, where many, himself included, had volunteered to rebuild the school by the time the next school year was set to start, he flooed over to St. Mungo's to greet Snape._

_Harry knocked on the door of Snape's hospital room, his mind racing in nervous anticipation._

_"Enter," Snape's quiet but stern voice answered, sounding slightly tired._

_"Good afternoon, Professor," Harry greeted quietly, closing the door after entering the room._

_"Potter," she greeted with a sharp nod. "I was waiting for you to show up."_

_"W-were you?" Harry asked, feeling rather confused and awkward._

_"I wasn't expecting to have had any visitors," Snape drawled. "So you can imagine the shock I felt when the healers informed me that the famous 'Boy-Who-Lived' took vigil at my bedside."_

_"They told you that?" If Harry thought he was feeling uncomfortable before, it was nothing compared to how he felt now. In fact, he felt very much like a young child who had gotten caught by his mother eating snacks before dinner._

_Snape huffed, sounding rather irritated. "Why did you bring me here, Potter?"_

_Harry paused to gather his thoughts. "You were dying, Professor. I couldn't just leave you._

_"Of course not," Snape scoffed. "The great Harry Potter playing hero as usual."_

_Harry looked down, feeling oddly disappointed. While he hadn't been expecting a huge display of gratitude, he certainly hadn't been prepared to receive a scolding for saving someone's life._

_"I suppose I'll just go, then," he said, looking at Snape, who simply turned away to look out the window. "I just wanted to say thank you, you know, for everything. I'll just leave you alone, now."_

_With that, Harry quickly left the room._

_A few days later, just as Harry finished his meeting with a group of home builders and designers that he hired to help rebuild 12 Grimmauld Place, the house that he inherited from his godfather, Sirius Black, he received a letter from St. Mungo's saying that Snape was asking for him._

_He quickly made his way to St. Mungo's, wondering why Snape would be asking for him of all people._

_"Hello, Professor," he greeted after entering Snape's hospital room. "You asked for me?"_

_"Amelia Bones presented me with the Order of Merlin this morning," Snape quietly informed Harry, her voice emotionless. Shortly after the Battle of Hogwarts, Amelia Bones, who narrowly escaped death a few years earlier, had been elected the Minister for Magic, a decision that Harry certainly thought was a step in the right direction after Voldemort's reign._

_Harry simply nodded, the information not coming as a surprise to him, given that nearly every person who had had a significant positive impact in the war had been awarded the Order of Merlin._

_"Please inform me as to when the Minister for Magic began handing out awards to violent Death Eaters who murdered beloved members of wizarding society," Snape drawled, likely interpreting Harry's silence as an invitation to continue._

_Harry took a few moments to gather his thoughts before responding. "Since an arrogant boy-wizard celebrity realized that things aren't always as they seem," he answered quietly. "And decided to tell everyone else."_

_Snape stared off for a few moments, her expression unreadable. "Thank you, Potter," she said stiffly, not meeting Harry's eye._

_After that, Harry made sure to visit Snape at least every few days for about an hour or so each day. As much as he certainly didn't look forward to these visits, Harry felt obligated to ensure that Snape had at least some outside interaction. Also, the less mature side of Harry felt an odd satisfaction at the knowledge that Snape likely dreaded these meetings as much as, if not more than, he did._

_Most of the time, Harry simply just read to Snape, as the two seemed to have reached the mutual understanding that they didn't have any common ground upon which to start a conversation._

_"Why are you doing this?" Snape asked suddenly one day._

_"Doing what?" Harry asked distractedly, looking up from that morning's Daily Prophet which he had been reading aloud._

_Snape huffed irritatedly. " You have certainly inherited your father's intelligence," she drawled sarcastically. "Showing up here, reading to me, gracing me with your oh-so-wonderful presence."_

_"Oh, erm, well,...I suppose, it's just...You've done so much for me, I guess I just thought I should do something for you," Harry answered. "Besides, everyone's surrounded by friends and family right now. And I know we're not exactly friends, but so far I've been your only regular visitor."_

_Snape remained quiet for so long that Harry assumed that the discussion was over and continued reading the Daily Prophet article on recent security adaptations at Gringotts._

_"Thank you, Potter," Snape said suddenly, staring firmly out the window, seemingly deliberately avoiding eye contact with Harry._

_"No problem, Professor," Harry responded, before continuing to read._

_A few days later, Harry once again found himself entering Snape's hospital room, that morning's newspaper in hand._

_"Hello, Professor," he said, sitting down in his usual seat next to Snape's bed._

_"Potter," Snape greeted with a sharp nod._

_Harry smiled at Snape's greeting, which hadn't changed at all since the first time Harry had visited to read to her. It was only after Harry finished the front page article that Snape spoke again._

_"I suppose you think this makes us even," she said suddenly. "You reading to me."_

_Harry shook his head. "All I did was tell the truth," he said sincerely. "You risked your life repeatedly, and quite nearly lost it, and destroyed your reputation, all to save this kid you hated."_

_Snape sighed deeply. "I do not hate you, Potter," she revealed, much to Harry's surprise. "I despised your father, yes, but not you."_

_"Erm,... no offense, Professor," Harry said, choosing his words very carefully despite his shock. "But you didn't make that too clear."_

_Snape nodded her face remaining expressionless._

_"I suppose it was easier for me to treat you like your father's child than it would've been to treat you like your mother's."_

_"Erm, I… I don't understand," Harry responded, feeling rather confused by Snape's statement._

_Snape rolled her eyes, muttering the word "idiot" under her breath. "The more I remembered that you were Lily's child, the more difficult it was to see you get hurt," she explained, slowly as though speaking to a small child. "And I knew that I would have to see you get repeatedly, and possibly even killed eventually, so to protect myself, I… I suppose I may have used your appearance to convince myself that you were your father. And I apologize for that."_

_Harry allowed himself a few moments to process what he had just heard. He had to admit that it made quite a bit of sense. It had been the moments that Harry had been particularly vulnerable that Snape had reacted with the cruelest remarks, almost always about Harry's father. He thought about the time that Snape had been forced to teach him occlumency. She had gotten rather infuriated after entering his mind for the first time. Initially, Harry thought that Snape was angry that Harry hadn't been able to control his mind, however, he now realized that she must've been angry at the Dursleys for treating him poorly and the fact that she couldn't do anything to help him._

_"It's alright, Professor," Harry said sincerely._

* * *

"I am quite certain I can handle a sleeping one-year-old," Snape drawled, smirking slightly, however without any of the harshness that her smirks had had in the past.

Harry chuckled. "Just wanted to make sure," he said, with a similar sirk. "For all I know, you could have a secret fear of sleeping Metamorphmagus toddlers."

Snape playfully rolled her eyes, a small smile tugging on her lips. "Just go, Potter."

Harry quickly followed McGonagall into her office.

"What's going on, Professor?" Harry asked as soon as both he and McGonagall were sitting down in the headmistress' office.

Over the next several minutes, Professor McGonagall explained that, in preparation for the possibility that Harry defeated him, Voldemort had cast a spell that would return everyone who died during the war exactly a year after he was defeated. Within this carefully crafted spell, Voldemort had also made it so that everyone of age during the most recent opening of the Chamber of Secrets would return to the age they were at that time. It was assumed that Voldemort's reason for doing this was that he would be returned back to the age of sixteen and would thus be allowed another lifetime to continue his work. However, he had made some unforeseen errors. While everyone else had been returned, Voldemort couldn't, as all of his horcruxes had been destroyed prior to his death, thus leaving him without enough of a soul to return. Similarly, his chosen date, the most recent opening of the Chamber of Secrets, was not the date he had intended, which was when Voldemort himself was still a student, but rather October 31, 1992 when Ginny Weasley was tricked into opening it.

"So Voldemort's not back?" Harry asked for clarification, not quite understanding what he was hearing.

"Yes, Mr. Potter," McGonagall confirmed, a patient smile on her face.

"But everyone else is?"

"Yes."

While this was certainly good news, Harry couldn't help but feel extremely overwhelmed.

"Erm, Professor, do you think I could just have a moment, please?" Harry asked, beginning to feel like the room was entirely too small and rapidly getting smaller.

"Of course, Mr. Potter," McGonagall stated, a slight look of concern on her face.

As soon as the words left the headmistress' mouth, Harry sprinted out of the room and ran all the way to the top of the Astronomy Tower, not looking back once.

Harry wasn't sure how long he was sitting there, perched on the window seat of the largest window in the Astronomy Tower, contemplating what Professor McGonagall had just told him. He was, of course, thrilled that he would get the chance to interact with important people in his life, however, he couldn't explain the odd and overwhelming mixture of fear and guilt that he felt the moment McGonagall had told him.

Harry had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't heard another person approaching him.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing up here, Potter?" Snape's voice asked, startling Harry out of his thoughts.

"Erm, I-I, erm…," Harry stammered, attempting to come up with some reason for being there. "I was...erm… looking for something?"

Snape raised an eyebrow, clearly doubting Harry's explanation.

"You were looking for something in the Astronomy Tower?" she repeated. Harry had to hold himself back from groaning at his rather stupid excuse. "When neither you nor your friends are taking Astronomy?"

"Y-yes," he stated, trying his best to sound convincing.

Snape huffed, rolling her eyes irritatedly.

"What's wrong, Potter?" she asked plainly, clearly wanting to get the conversation over and done with.

"Nothing," Harry said quickly.

Snape scoffed. "Nothing is wrong, and yet, you've been hiding up here for nearly two hours."

Harry looked down but said nothing.

"Potter," Snape said with a gentleness that, less than a year ago, would've shocked Harry, but now, wasn't too unexpected, especially when Harry was having a particularly difficult day. "Why are you hiding up here?"

"I'm not hiding," he stated defensively, earning himself a raised eyebrow from Snape.

Harry sighed before giving a more honest answer. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to see everyone," he admitted in a barely audible voice.

"Why?" Snape asked. "And don't you dare say that you're worried you will be met with fury and hatred. You and I both know that that is impossible."

Harry shook his head. He certainly wasn't worried about being hated. "It's not that, it's...it's just that… I'm worried that…".

"Breath, Potter," Snape said calmly.

Harry paused for a while attempting to collect his thoughts, before suddenly realizing how to express what was truly troubling him.

"Why did Voldemort go after my parents?" he asked Snape, not because he didn't know the answer, but rather to help Snape understand why he couldn't meet everyone.

"What?" Snape asked, clearly caught off guard.

"Why did Voldemort go after my parents?" Harry repeated, this time in a louder more confident voice. "What was his reason?"

"He believed you were the one the prophecy was referring to," Snape answered simply, looking confusedly at Harry. "The one who could defeat him."

"Exactly!" Harry exclaimed, now standing up and pacing the room. "Why did Cedric die?"

"Wh-" Snape started, looking both confused and annoyed.

"Why?!" Harry asked vigorously, before Snape could ask what he was doing.

"Because he was with you at the graveyard," Snape answered reluctantly.

"Exactly!" Harry exclaimed again, causing Snape to look at him as though he were insane. "Now, why did Leo die?"

"Potter," Snape said warningly, looking much more irritated than concerned at this point.

"Why did Leo die?!"

Leonard James Black, called "Leo" by friends and family, was Sirius' son who was born at the beginning of Sirius' sixth year at Hogwarts. He had died protecting Harry during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.

"A Death Eater killed him," Snape answered.

Harry huffed and rolled his eyes frustratedly. "Well, yes, but why?"

"Because he was in the Ministry during the battle," Snape answered, raising her eyebrows at Harry.

"Why, though?!" Harry asked, feeling increasingly frustrated that Snape wasn't understanding what he was trying to say. "Why was he there?"

Snape sighed deeply, shaking her head, looking highly irritated.

"Because you were there and were in danger," she answered almost mockingly, clearly resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Exactly!" Harry exclaimed wildly, choosing to ignore Snape's mocking tone. "Because of me. My parents, Cedric, Leo, and countless others, dead, all because of me."

"Their deaths were not your fault," Snape said, her irritated demeanor was quickly replaced with one of concern and sympathy.

"If I had never been born, Voldemort wouldn't have gone after my parents, Sirius wouldn't have spent twelve years in Azkaban, Cedric would've still been alive, Leo could've grown up in a loving home, Rem-"

"Or Voldemort would've taken over, killing everyone he deemed unworthy of life, without worry that his reign would come to an end," Snape reasoned, cutting Harry off mid-rant.

"What?" Harry asked quietly, feeling rather taken aback by Snape's line of reasoning.

"Sit down, Potter," Snape sighed.

Harry immediately sat down, waiting for Snape to continue.

"When did Voldemort make his first horcrux?" she asked.

"During his sixth year," Harry answered, thinking back on the memory he had viewed in Professor Dumbledore's office a few years ago.

"Do you happen to know what year that was?" Snape asked.

"No," Harry knew that it must've been a long time ago, but couldn't remember the exact year.

"1943," Snape informed him. "Were your parents alive at that time?"

"No," Harry answered quietly, knowing that his parents had both been born in 1960.

"How about Sirius, Cedric, Leo?" Snape asked. "Were any of them alive?"

"No."

"It is not your fault," Snape said sincerely. "Voldemort was a broken, evil man, and you not being born could not have changed that."

Harry understood Snape's point but still didn't agree with her entirely.

"I understand, Professor," he started. "But-"

"But, what, Potter?" Snape asked with a hint of irritation.

"It's...it's just that…" Harry sighed. "Everyone around me either ends up getting hurt or-or dying, and...I just can't risk that happening again."

"Yeah, this year's been great," he continued quietly, willing himself not to cry in front of Snape. "B-but it's only a matter of time before it starts happening again. And I-I...I just think that it would be...better if I...if I just…"

Snape gently turned Harry's face so that he was looking directly into her eyes.

'Listen, Potter," she said gently. "It's very noble of you to want to avoid your loved ones to protect them, but you need to understand, all of your loved ones who were hurt or killed helping you were willing to risk their lives because they would much rather die than live in a world without you. They were willing to get hurt because they love you. If your parents or the Weasleys or any one else was in the same position you have been in your entire life, would you consider it their fault if you got hurt helping them?"

Harry shook his head, too afraid to speak as tears were threatening to fall from his eyes. He now understood at least a little bit that it was not his fault that he had been singled out by Voldemort.

"Come here," Snape sighed, gently ushering Harry into her arms.

He somewhat reluctantly accepted Snape's hug, shaking as he was trying to keep from crying.

"It's alright, Potter," Snape said, with a gentleness Harry would never have expected from her. "You're alright."

In spite of himself, Harry immediately began sobbing into Snape's shoulder. After everything he had been through, he never cried once, not after Cedric's death, nor Leo or Dobby's deaths, and not even after all of the deaths at the Battle of Hogwarts. He had to admit that it felt rather good to finally let go of several years of pent up guilt and sadness.

After what felt simultaneously like several hours and only a few seconds, Harry calmed down, sitting up straight and wiping the remaining tears off his face.

"S-sorry about that, P-Professor," he apologized sheepishly.

"It's alright, Potter," Snape assured him. "Although, if you repeat these events to anyone, I can assure you, you will wish you were never born."

Harry laughed. "No problem, Professor."


	2. Chapter 2

"Shall we go to the Great Hall for lunch?" Snape suggested after a few minutes, standing up from her seat at the window.

"Erm,... well, I…," Harry started, feeling very hesitant, especially as he knew that everyone would probably be there. Now that the fear of hurting or losing a loved one had been successfully calmed, Harry was able to notice another rather less significant fear.

"What is the issue this time, Potter?" Snape huffed.

"Well, you see, it's just,..." Harry paused for a moment, attempting to collect his thoughts. "I guess I just feel...I don't know, a bit self-conscious… I'm worried that everyone will be staring at me and, you know, watching for a reaction or something…"

He looked up at Snape who simply stared at him with a blank face.

"Oh, yes," Snape said mockingly. "Because everyone cares about precious Potter and his precious feelings. All eyes on the great Harry Potter."

Harry rolled his eyes, feeling frustrated and even a bit betrayed. "That is not it," he said heatedly. "I thought you of all people would understand."

* * *

_**September 1, 1998 (Harry's POV)** _

_The first day of Harry's final year of school came upon him much quicker than he had expected. While, just after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry had been certain that he would not return to school to complete his education, after about a month of consideration, he changed his mind, feeling that returning to school might be a good way to return back to normalcy. As Harry sat down next to Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, he truly felt that he had made the right decision. Despite everything that had happened only four short months ago, the first night at Hogwarts still held the same nervous excitement and anticipation as it always did._

_Harry looked up to see the faces of the professors, which seemed almost the same as it had always been, however, this time, missing a tall, old professor with a long white beard and twinkling blue eyes._

_He was somewhat surprised to see Severus Snape, the new deputy headmistress, sitting alongside her peers. Typically, it was the job of the deputy headmistress to bring the new first-years into the Great Hall before beginning the famous Sorting Ceremony. Harry noticed, however, that the job must have been given to Rubeus Hagrid, the Care of Magical Creatures professor who happened to be the person to introduce Harry to magic, as he was the only one missing from the staff table. Harry thought that this was a good decision as Hagrid's enthusiastic personality would definitely help calm the first years' nerves, while Snape's more sullen demeanor might scare them._

_After the Sorting Ceremony, which gave Gryffindor twelve new students, Professor McGonagall stood up to give the traditional welcome speech._

" _Good evening, everyone," McGonagall greeted happily. "It is lovely to be able to welcome you all to another year at Hogwarts. While there will definitely be a few differences from previous years, I truly believe that, with the help of our staff and our students, we will certainly have a wonderful and successful year. Allow me to introduce you to our staff."_

_McGonagall went on to introduce each professor, all of whom received a warm welcome. As many of the staff had been replaced with Voldemort supporters last year, it was necessary, at very least for the second years, for the new staff members to be introduced. The last professor to be announced was Snape, who was introduced as both the Potions professor and the deputy headmistress. Unsurprisingly to Harry, everyone stood up when Snape's name was announced, offering applause that lasted nearly a full minute before Snape suddenly stormed out of the Great Hall._

_Harry was rather surprised at this reaction, as it appeared was everyone else. After making eye contact with McGonagall, who gave a short nod of approval, Harry grabbed a few things from the table, placed them on two plates, and left after Snape, immediately walking to Snape's office._

" _Professor," Harry called, knocking lightly on the office door. "Professor Snape, are you in there?"_

_After several seconds, Snape opened the door._

" _What, Potter?" Snape asked sharply._

" _Are you alright, Professor?" Harry asked gently._

_Snape stared at him, looking rather irritated. "Why are you here?"_

" _I wanted to make sure you were alright, Professor" Harry answered simply. "You seemed really overwhelmed."_

" _I'm fine," Snape drawled, about to close the door._

" _No, you're not," Harry said honestly, placing his foot between the door and the doorframe. He knew that this was a rather bold move and that Snape would likely punish him heavily, but he simply wanted to make sure that she understood that he was there for her if she needed him. "But, besides that, I figured you'd probably get a bit hungry skipping dinner and all."_

_A look of curiosity and confusion swept across Snape's irritated face._

" _I've brought some food," Harry explained, showing her the plates that he had brought from the feast._

_Snape paused for a while before allowing Harry to enter her office._

" _I wasn't sure what you'd like to drink," Harry started, walking towards Snape's desk to put the plates down. "But I brought some roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and carrots because I remember you liked those in the hospital."_

_Snape gestured to a seat in front of her desk, and Harry took this as an invitation to sit down._

" _Would you like something to drink, Potter?" Snape asked, walking towards a kettle._

" _Just some tea, please."_

_Snape nodded, summoning two tea cups._

_After a few seconds, she placed steaming cups of tea on her desk, one in front of Harry and the other in front of her own seat._

" _Why are you here, Potter?" she asked after a while of eating in silence._

 _Harry shrugged, not entirely sure why he had opted to have dinner in an office with one of his least favourite professors when he could have sat with his friends in the Great Hall. "I understand that the Welcoming Feast can be a bit, erm,_ overwhelming _," he started. "But I figured it would be pretty… I don't know, lonely… being here by yourself, while everyone's in the Great Hall, happy and together."_

_Snape nodded curtly, and Harry couldn't tell if she nodded in understanding of Harry's explanation or simply in acknowledgement of it._

_Soon both plates were empty, and Harry couldn't see any reason to remain in the room._

" _Erm, I guess I should go…," he said hesitantly, standing up slowly from his chair. "Have a good night, Professor."_

_Snape once again nodded curtly. It was only when Harry had opened the door of the office and was about to walk out that Snape spoke again._

" _Thank you, Potter," Snape said sincerely. "For dinner... and the company."_

" _You're welcome, Professor."_

* * *

Snape sighed deeply, and Harry, feeling rather angry, could hardly hide the fact that he was waiting for her to speak solely so that he could argue with her.

"What if I can assure you that you will be left alone?" Snape asked straight-faced.

Just as Harry was about to remark with an aggressive retort, he processed what Snape had just said.

"What...what do you mean, Professor?" he asked.

"I mean," she started, a small smirk on her face. "How would you feel about having lunch in the Great Hall without being stared at or applauded."

"That would be great… no, honestly, that would be perfect," Harry stated, feeling rather curious, but every so slightly worried that she was mocking him. "But that's not exactly possible now, is it?"

"Wait here, Potter," Snape ordered, before rushing out of the room.

Harry waited about ten minutes before Snape returned.

"Shall we go, Potter?" she asked, standing by the door to the Astronomy Tower.

Harry followed her down the stairs to the Astronomy Tower and all the way to the Great Hall.

He stopped in front of the doors of the Great Hall, feeling the increasing need to run back to the Astronomy Tower, locking the door behind him.

"Come on, Potter," Snape urged gently. "You and I are just having lunch in the Great Hall. Nothing out of the ordinary. Remember?"

Harry nodded nervously, entering the Great Hall behind Snape. Much to his surprise, no one seemed to acknowledge his presence, most people looking up for only a moment before continuing on to their conversations.

"Let's just sit down here," Snape suggested, gesturing to the end of the Gryffindor table closest to the door.

Harry nodded, feeling too nervous to speak. He tried his best to focus on Snape's reminder that they were just eating lunch and that nothing uncomfortable would happen. He would not be treated like a hero or celebrity but simply as a student having lunch like every other student.

After a while spent eating and conversing lightly with Snape, Harry finally began to calm down. He felt incredibly grateful knowing that Snape had somehow managed to get everyone to allow him some space without causing him the separation to feel forced.

"Hey, there, Harry," Draco greeted, sitting down next to Snape. He figured that Snape must've handed Teddy off to Draco as Teddy was sitting next to Draco's two-year-old son, Scorpius, who was making faces to entertain a giggling Teddy.

"Hi, Draco," Harry replied happily, glancing over at the two-year-old who looked more and more like Draco as time went on. "I see Scorpius is doing better."

Draco had taken a few days off from class earlier in the week to take care of Scorpius who had had yet another ear infection, a result of the genetic issues that had also caused rapid hearing loss.

* * *

_**July 1, 1997 (Harry's POV)** _

" _Malfoy!" Harry shouted angrily, after finally entering the Room of Requirement, which was crammed full of a variety of objects. "Malfoy, I know you're in here!"_

_Since the beginning of the school year, Harry had been certain that Draco Malfoy had joined the Death Eaters and had been given some evil task by Voldemort. While everyone, including Ron and Hermione, had thought that he was crazy for thinking that Voldemort would assign some hugely important task to a sixteen-year-old, Harry had found a few pieces of what he felt was definitive proof. Not only did Harry eavesdrop on Malfoy bragging to his friends about Voldemort giving him an assignment, he also overheard a conversation between Malfoy and Snape, in which Snape had offered to help Malfoy with whatever the evil task was. On top of that, Malfoy would often skip meals and quidditch practices and had even been neglecting his school work. Harry soon noticed that Malfoy would often disappear from the Marauders' Map which showed all of Hogwarts except for the Room of Requirement, causing Harry to assume that Malfoy was using the Room of Requirement as a way of completing his task._

" _Malfoy!" Harry shouted again, feeling increasingly angry. "Show yourself, you coward!"_

_Unlike Snape, being called a coward didn't seem to rile Malfoy much, as he didn't come out of his hiding spot._

" _I know it was you!" Harry shouted. "I know you brought the Death Eaters here!"_

_Suddenly, Malfoy stepped out from behind a curtain._

" _The Death Eaters are here?" he asked in a hushed whisper._

_Harry scoffed. "Don't act like you don't know." While he felt completely certain that it had been Malfoy who snuck the Death Eaters into the castle, he had to admit, from the way that Malfoy looked, he was quite impressed with his acting skills._

" _I really didn't know, Potter," Malfoy insisted. "Are they still here? Where are they?"_

_Harry, overtaken by anger, ran over and grabbed Malfoy by the collar._

" _You and I both know Voldemort wanted you to kill Dumbledore!" he shouted furiously. He was overwhelmed with anger that Malfoy, not only snuck Death Eaters into the castle, but also had the audacity to pretend that he had no idea what happened. "You know I heard you on the train and in the bathroom."_

_Although it was Theodore Nott who had disarmed Dumbledore in the Astronomy Tower, allowing Snape to easily kill the elderly wizard, Harry still felt certain that Malfoy had handed the task over to Nott, too afraid to confront Dumbledore himself._

" _Kill Dumbledore?" Malfoy looked completely taken aback. "What the fuck are you talking about, Potter?"_

_Harry couldn't help but noticed that Malfoy was still speaking in a hushed tone._

" _Alright, I'll humour you, Malfoy," he spat. "Were you or were you not given a_ special task _by your precious Dark Lord?"_

 _Malfoy sighed. "I was," he said quietly, sounding rather reluctant. "But it wasn't to kill_ Dumbledore _."_

_Harry narrowed his eyes. "Who then? Who did you kill?!"_

_Malfoy immediately looked alarmed. "I didn't kill anyone!" he insisted, finally raising his voice. "I-I couldn't do it."_

_Just as Harry was about to ask who, a small cry was heard from somewhere behind the large curtain that Malfoy had hidden behind._

_Harry looked at Malfoy, who, much to his surprise, turned paler than he already was._

" _Shit," Malfoy said to himself, before hurriedly turning to Harry. "Listen, Potter, this was really a lovely chat, but…"_

" _I am not leaving you here with a child," Harry said harshly. "Especially not after hearing that you were ordered to murder someone."_

" _I am not going to murder my baby!" Malfoy shouted, clearly shocking even himself._

_Suddenly the door to the Room of Requirement slammed open._

" _What have you done with him, Malfoy!" Ron came running at Malfoy, his wand out, while Hermione walked quickly behind him._

_Likely due to the chaos, the baby's cries grew louder, causing Malfoy to look increasingly panicked._

" _Please, just let me go to him," he begged tearfully, looking, in Harry's opinion, rather pitiful. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know, just let me go."_

" _Fine," Harry agreed. "But I swear Malfoy, if you suddenly disappear, I won't be so kind in the future."_

_Malfoy nodded before quickly running behind the curtain._

" _Was that a baby?" Ron asked, looking completely confused._

" _It certainly sounded like one," Harry said. "And Malfoy certainly seemed to believe it was."_

" _He could've been faking," Ron suggested. "Maybe playing recordings of a baby crying to distract us."_

" _That definitely sounds like something Malfoy would do," Harry agreed._

" _Oh, come on," Hermione said, rolling her eyes and walking over to the curtain. "It's a curtain not a brick wall."_

_Hermione quietly opened the curtain just enough so that she, Harry, and Ron could peak through. Harry quickly threw his invisibility cloak over himself and his friends so that Malfoy wouldn't be able to see them through the tiny gap._

_Looking through the curtain, Harry was shocked to see what looked like a very small room, with a cot in one corner and a shelf of baby supplies in the other. Malfoy was sitting down in a rocking chair facing the corner of the room with the cot in it. In his left hand was a baby bottle and, much to Harry's surprise, a tiny crying baby with a tiny bit of shiny pale blonde hair on his head lay on Malfoy's right arm._

" _Shhh, love, it's alright, don't cry," Malfoy whispered, sounding very much unlike his usual self. The baby continued crying._

" _I guess you're not hungry, then," he sighed after a while of attempting to feed the child, looking a bit frustrated and certainly overwhelmed._

" _Why don't walk around a bit?" he whispered, placing the bottle down and clutching the baby to his chest, before standing up and gently bouncing the baby in his arms as he walked around the small room._

_After about a minute, the baby began quieting down._

_Harry, Ron, and Hermione quickly moved away from the curtain, knowing that Malfoy would likely reemerge from the small room soon, now that the baby was once again asleep._

_Sure enough, after about a minute, Malfoy nervously walked out from behind the curtain._

" _Whose baby is that, Malfoy?" Harry asked immediately, noticing that Malfoy likely wouldn't begin speaking on his own._

" _I told you," he insisted. "He's mine."_

" _Why do you have a baby?" Ron asked, before anyone else could._

_Malfoy sighed and looked down, clearly reluctant to explain why he had a child._

" _It's a long story," he started, still not looking at anyone._

_Hermione made quick eye contact with Harry, signalling to him that she needed him to trust her and whatever she was about to do._

_Harry gave a sharp nod of approval._

_Hermione summoned four chairs, sat down in one, and gestured for Harry and Ron to sit as well. Malfoy looked around at them before finally seeming to notice the fourth chair._

" _What happened, Draco?" Hermione said gently, once Malfoy sat down._

_He shook his head nervously._

" _It's really horrible," he said in a barely audible voice._

" _We promise we won't tell anyone," Harry said carefully._

_Malfoy gulped before speaking again, quickly schooling his features into a neutral expression._

" _Well, you know, how my father...messed up last year with the prophecy and the battle at the Ministry?" he started, clearly choosing his words carefully._

" _Yes," Harry said, remembering the battle that occurred at the Ministry of Magic just over a year ago, in which Voldemort attempted to steal a prophecy that was made several years ago regarding Voldemort and the one who could be able to defeat him. In the end, the orb containing the prophecy was accidentally broken by Neville Longbottom, and Voldemort was furious. While the identities of several Death Eaters were revealed and the Ministry finally realized that Voldemort was truly back, Voldemort, along with all of his followers, managed to escape._

" _Well,_ he _wasn't exactly pleased..."_

 _Harry knew that by "_ he" _Malfoy meant Voldemort_

" _Alright…" Harry urged Malfoy to continue after several seconds of silence._

" _Well," Malfoy said, his voice sounding surprisingly calm. "The day after that,_ he _summoned my parents and I from where we were hiding…"_

_Harry had to commend Malfoy for maintaining his composure throughout his explanation._

" _He told my father that he needed to be… punished… for what happened."_

_Harry now noticed that, while Malfoy's voice and face remained neutral, his hands were shaking quite severely._

" _He gave my father the choice of who would receive the punishment for the family," Malfoy said, clearly forcing his voice to be calm. "A-and my father chose me."_

_Harry was completely taken aback by this information, as were Hermione, who gasped in shock, and Ron, who looked scandalized._

_Harry had to admit it was rather shocking that Malfoy didn't seem too concerned or betrayed that his own father had allowed him to be punished for a mistake he didn't make. It was then that Harry realized just how different Malfoy's upbringing was to the other three in the room. While Harry's parents had died rather young, Harry, at very least, knew that they had died to save his life. While Ron's parents often struggled to make ends meet, they always made sure their children had everything they needed and more. While Hermione's parents were muggles, they always did their best to support and understand Hermione and the world she was now a part of. Malfoy's parents, on the other hand, were rich, powerful_ _Purebloods, but they didn't seem to care at all about their son's safety or happiness._

" _And what did your mother do? Just let you take the fall for the whole family," Ron asked aggressively._

" _No," Malfoy argued quietly. "She tried to convince my father to let her take the punishment instead, but he wouldn't let her."_

" _What kind of father makes_ his own kid _get punished for_ his _mistake?" Ron asked, still looking appalled._

" _It's not his fault!" Malfoy defended his father fiercely. "He didn't have a choice."_

" _He could've taken the punishment," Ron stated, as though this was obvious."He was_ _the one who_ made _the mistake."_

_Malfoy sighed, but didn't argue against Ron's statement._

" _That still doesn't explain the baby," Harry said, attempting to steer the conversation back._

" _Oh…," Malfoy said, now looking rather nervous._

" _Who's the baby's mother, Draco?" Hermione asked gently._

_After about a minute, Malfoy finally answered._

" _My aunt Bellatrix," he mumbled nearly inaudibly._

_Much to Harry's surprise, Ron slammed his fist on the wall next to him._

" _Please, tell me she was at least sorry about raping her nephew," Ron growled. While Malfoy hadn't explicitly said that Bellatrix had raped him, his behaviour and prior explanation made it quite clear._

_Malfoy shook his head. "She actually seemed really excited about it," he explained, looking highly uncomfortable. "She said she'd volunteered for the job."_

" _Blimey, your family's sick, Malfoy," Ron sighed._

_Just then, Harry realized something important._

" _Wait, why are you raising the baby here, then?" Harry asked._

 _Malfoy shifted uncomfortably in his seat._ " _Well,_ he _initially said that the baby would be the first person trained to be a Death Eater from the start," he started. "And as humiliated as I was during and after what Aunt Bellatrix did, I was actually a bit proud and excited about the baby at least getting some recognition. It made it all seem worth it, I suppose."_

" _But then the baby was born a little too early, so he's got some ear problems," he continued. "The healers said that he'll lose his hearing completely by the time he's five."_

"He _said he didn't want a weak Death Eater, so…" Malfoy began losing his composure a little bit, seeming rather upset. "H-he t-t-told me to...to_ dispose _of the baby...of_ my _baby."_

_Hermione gasped. "I'm so sorry, Draco."_

_Malfoy made no acknowledgement of Hermione's remark, instead continuing on with his story._

" _B-b-but I couldn't...wouldn't," he explained further. "So, I brought him here."_

 _Malfoy looked pleadingly at Harry. "I know you don't have any reason to believe me, but I swear I_ never _let those Death Eaters in."_

_Harry simply nodded, feeling too shocked to speak._

* * *

"Yeah, he's doing a lot better, now," Draco said, smiling at Scorpius, who was now happily eating his lunch.

"I see he still likes Ron's birthday present," Harry chuckled, noticing the white ferret cuddly toy that Ron had bought him two months ago tucked under his arm.

Draco groaned. "He's obsessed with it," he admitted begrudgingly. "I think Weasley's won this battle."

"What battle have I won, Malfoy?" Ron smirked sitting down next to Harry. "Oh, hi, Scorpy-"

"That's not his name," Draco remarked stubbornly, although likely knowing that Ron wouldn't listen to him.

Scorpius smiled widely. "Uco Won!" Scorpius lifted his cuddly toy to show Ron. "Wook!"

"Wow!" Ron exclaimed, overenthusiastically. "Remember what his name is?"

"Witto Dwaco!" Scorpius answered, smiling brightly. Harry chuckled at the memory of Ron giving Scorpius the toy, named "Little Draco".

* * *

_**March 1, 1999 (Harry's POV)** _

" _There's my birthday twin!" Ron exclaimed happily, entering the Great Hall and immediately running to Draco and Scorpius, who were sitting across from Harry, Teddy, and Hermione._

_Harry had been wondering where Ron was, as, after nearly twenty minutes of waiting in the eighth year common room, Ron hadn't shown up, causing Harry, Teddy, and Hermione to leave without him._

" _Uco Won!" Scorpius said excitedly. "Burtday!"_

_Harry had to admit that the toddler's speech didn't seem too bad, despite his hearing loss. While the volume of Scorpius' voice often alternated between very loud and too quiet, his words were actually quite clear._

" _Happy birthday to_ you _, little Scorpy," Ron said, sitting down next to the toddler._

" _Please, don't call him that," Draco groaned._

" _It's Scorpy's birthday! It's Scorpy's birthday!" Ron began shouting, causing Scorpius to giggle and clap his hands and causing Draco to look at the ceiling exasperatedly._

" _Here's your present," Ron said, handing Scorpius a box, neatly wrapped in red wrapping paper with a large gold bow on top._

" _Do you need help opening it,_ Scorpius _?" Draco asked, putting extra emphasis on the toddler's name._

" _No, tank oo," Scorpius answered. "I do it."_

_After a few minutes, with some very discreet help from Draco, Scorpius removed the wrapping paper and opened the box._

" _Wow!" Scorpius said, smiling brightly, taking a white ferret cuddly toy from the box. "Wook, Daddy!"_

 _Harry had to hold back a laugh. "_ _Oh_ , _wow," Draco said, in a falsely enthusiastic voice, still shooting glares at Ron whenever Scorpius' back was turned. "Isn't that nice?"_

" _What's his name, Scorpy?" Ron asked._

" _Erm, I dunno," Scorpius said, tilting his head in thought._

" _I have an idea," Ron said in a cheerful voice."How about 'Little Draco'?"_

_Scorpius nodded excitedly, while Draco simply glared at Ron with even more anger than before._

" _Witto Daco," Scorpius repeated, nodding his head, as if to say that the name was perfect._

* * *

After several minutes, Harry had nearly forgotten why he had been so nervous about entering the Great Hall in the first place.

"Hey, Ron, could you pass the potatoes, please?" A voice asked from about two seats away from Ron.

"Sure, James," Ron said, passing the bowl of potatoes to none other than James Potter.

While at first, Harry probably would've ran out of the room immediately, feeling completely overwhelmed, he now felt quite comfortable, albeit slightly nervous. He was happy to see that rather than making a big scene, James had simply offered Harry a small smile before turning back to his previous conversation.

After a few minutes of watching his parents, along with Sirius, Remus, and Tonks, Harry finally worked up the courage to approach them.


	3. Chapter 3

Erm, hi," Harry greeted awkwardly after finally working up the courage to walk up to his parents and their friends.

Now standing face to face with his parents, he realized just how young they were when they had been murdered. While he had known that they were only twenty-one, seeing their faces, which weren't too much older than his own face, allowed the truth to fully sink in.

"Wotcher, Harry!" Tonks greeted happily. "Sit down, sit down!"

Harry sat down next to Tonks, sighing in relief as he had been worried that he would be faced with a dramatic, tearful meeting, the sort of reunion that he certainly wasn't equipped to handle.

"So, how have you been?" Tonks asked, a bright smile on her face. "Other than relieved that old Voldy's dead."

"I've been alright," Harry answered, feeling grateful that Tonks was acting completely normally, as though simply greeting Harry after a few days of not seeing him.

"I see you've decided to return to Hogwarts," Remus said with a smile.

"Yeah, it seemed like the best thing to do," Harry answered honestly before going on to explain how McGonagall had allowed students who had been seventh-years last year to return to Hogwarts to complete their N.E.W.T.s.

He had to assume that McGonagall had explained to everyone in the hall what had happened over the past few years, as neither his parents nor Tonks, Remus, and Sirius seemed shocked or confused about the end of the war.

"That's quite nice," Lily said, smiling brightly. "What N.E.W.T.s are you taking?"

"Defense, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, and Herbology," Harry answered, feeling excited at the chance to speak to his parents.

"Ah, all of the Auror classes," James remarked proudly.

"That's the plan," Harry said, smiling in spite of himself. While he certainly appreciated the other adults in his life, their approval was nothing compared to the approval of his parents.

"I would've thought the Ministry would have given you a spot right after the war," Remus stated.

"They offered," Harry admitted. "But I declined. Everyone else has to earn their place. So, I though I should as well."

After the war had ended, Harry had wanted to distance himself as much as he could from Voldemort and the war, desperately wanting some long-awaited normalcy.

"Good on you, Harry," Tonks said, raising her glass of pumpkin juice.

"I told you he's a much better man than we were at his age," Sirius said proudly to James.

It was then that Harry noticed Sirius' haggard appearance. He had to admit that Sirius looked about as bad as he had when Harry had first met him in the Shrieking Shack near the end of his third year. This had been less than a year after Sirius had escaped from Azkaban where he had been imprisoned for twelve years after being wrongly accused of betraying Lily and James and murdering thirteen people. Sirius' name had only been cleared after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries after spending nearly three years in hiding.

"I was still in Azkaban when the Chamber of Secrets was reopened," Sirius explained with a sad smile on his face, likely noticing Harry's confused look.

"Oh," Harry said quietly. "Right." He assumed that Sirius must have explained to his parents how their former friend Peter Pettigrew killed twelve muggles and faked his own death after Sirius confronted him causing Sirius to get blamed and thrown in Azkaban.

"We'll get him all cleaned up soon enough," James said happily, clapping Sirius on the shoulder. "He'll look just as handsome as ever."

Sirius chuckled. "Too right I will, Prongs," he responded, looking significantly happier than Harry could ever remember seeing him.

"How's Teddy?" Tonks asked excitedly, peering over at her now-bright-yellow-haired son, who was giggling as Draco wiped the child's hands and face.

"He's just great," Harry said, smiling at his godson.

"Who's taking care of him while your at school?" Remus asked.

"Well, during class, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley look after him," Harry explained. "And Draco usually looks after him during smaller things like quidditch practices or meetings with teachers. But outside of class, I've been taking care of him."

"Blimey, Harry," Tonks gasped. "That's a huge task on its own, let alone with N.E.W.T.s."

"We're so sorry," Remus apologized, looking incredibly guilty. "We never meant to dump Teddy on you."

Harry immediately shook his head.

"No, Teddy's a great kid, honestly," he insisted, not wanting Remus and Tonks to feel that they had left him with a huge burden.

While he certainly hadn't expected that he would be raising a baby at the young age of seventeen, he was more than willing to take on the task if it meant giving his godson the loving and nurturing home that Harry himself had never gotten.

"Plenty of people offered to take him in during the school year, but I really just wanted to have him here with me," Harry added. "It's the least I could do for everything you two have done for me."

"Thank you, Harry," Tonks said, grasping his hand.

"I know he probably doesn't even remember us now," Remus stated with a sad smile. "But, do you think we could say 'hello' to him?"

"Of course," Harry stated, standing up. "Let me just go get him."

"Hi, Teddy-bear," he said, reaching down to pick the child up. "Let's go meet your mum and dad."

Teddy simply babbled in response as Harry walked him over to Remus and Tonks.

"Oh, hi, sweetheart," Tonks sighed, gazing lovingly at her son.

"Hi!" Teddy squealed happily, waving his hands, causing both of his parents and Harry to laugh.

"He's certainly not a shy one," Lily chuckled, smiling at the toddler.

"Nope," said Harry. "Even as a baby he went to everyone. He really is the most friendly baby I've ever met. Mind you, I haven't met too many babies."

"He's gotten so big," Remus remarked smiling with tears in his eyes.

While Remus, Tonks, Lily, and James were gushing over little Teddy who was now sitting on Remus' lap babbling happily, Harry couldn't help but notice that Sirius was wringing his hands staring off. Harry could only assume that Sirius was thinking about his own son.

* * *

**_June 18, 1996 (Harry's POV)_ **

_"He's still warm," Sirius said in a quiet, pained voice, gripping his son's hand._

_When Harry, Sirius, and Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts after the battle that had just occurred at the Ministry of Magic, Harry had thought that everyone had already been made aware of Leo's death at the hands of a Death Eater. He was proven wrong, however, when, upon entering the Hospital Wing and seeing his dead child, Sirius howled in pain and rushed over to attempt to wake him up. It seemed now that Sirius had finally accepted that, while everyone else would awake and out of the hospital in a few days time, Leo would never wake up again._

_"I am so sorry, Sirius," Mr. Weasley said sympathetically placing a hand on Sirius' arm. "Leo was truly a wonderful person and a very brave man."_

_Sirius nodded sadly, seemingly unable to take his eyes off of his son. Harry could tell that, despite Leo and Sirius not having the best relationship, Sirius truly loved him and was absolutely devastated at his death._

_"I just want to hold him in my arms again," Sirius said in a barely audible voice. "Just one last time."_

_"Why don't you?" Mrs. Weasley suggested gently._

_Sirius' eyes lit up for a moment before turning sad again. "Wouldn't that be... odd?"_

_Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "Not at all," she insisted. "My parents held my brothers the night they died. Held them all the way until the next morning."_

_Sirius seemed to consider Mrs. Weasley's words for a few minutes before nodding._

_"I-I think I want to hold him," he said quietly, looking over at Mrs. Weasley. "Just until he...until he turns c-cold."_

_"Alright, then," Mrs. Weasley said gently, standing up and walking over to the bed where Leo's body lay._

_She carefully lifted Leo's head and upper body, before turning to Sirius._

_"You can sit right here," she gestured to the upper left corner of the bed._

_Sirius sat down on the bed, and Mrs. Weasley placed Leo into his arms._

_"Hi, darling," Sirius tearfully whispered to Leo. He gently placed a kiss on his son's forehead. "My sweet, beautiful little lion."_

_"I'll just give you two some privacy," Mrs. Weasley said, clearly holding back tears as she closed the curtains around Sirius and Leo._

* * *

"Are you ready to see Leo again?" Harry asked quietly, gently placing a hand on Sirius' shoulder.

Sirius nodded halfheartedly. "Of course, every bone in my body wants to see Leo," he said sounding incredibly sad. "But I completely understand if he doesn't want to see me, and I will respect his wishes if-if he says he n-no longer wants me in his life."

"Why wouldn't Leo want you in his life?" James asked, nearly spitting out his pumpkin juice. "He _adores_ you."

"You two have always had a great relationship from what I remember," Lily added, looking nearly as surprised as James at Sirius' statement.

* * *

**_November 19, 1976 (Lily's POV)_ **

_"Prongs!" Sirius' voice called excitedly from the staircase leading to the boy's dorms. "You need to see this!"_

_Lily rolled her eyes before looking up, fully expecting to see Sirius with some sort of stupid prank item in his hands. She was somewhat surprised to see Sirius walking very carefully down the stairs his four-month-old clutched closely to his chest._

_Despite Lily's vehement dislike of James Potter and his friends, she had to admit that Sirius had matured significantly after the birth of his son. Only one day after the start of the school year, Sirius had found Leo in a small cardboard box outside the Gryffindor sixth-year boys dorms. The letter in the box had stated that a girl who Sirius had dated for a few weeks near the Christmas holidays last year had fallen pregnant with his child who had been born only three days before. The girl, a seventh-year Ravenclaw named Gemma stated that she had no interest in raising the child and that she didn't care what Sirius did to him. While Sirius had said that he initially wanted to give the child up for adoption, upon holding Leo in his arms for the first time had changed his mind. From that moment, Sirius had dedicated himself to raising his son whom James named 'Leonard James Black'._

_"What is it, Pads?" James called from a corner of the common room where he sat with his other friends Remus and Peter._

_Sirius walked over to his friends, a bright smile on his face._

_"He laughed, Prongs," Sirius said, beaming. "Leo laughed."_

_James jumped up, gasping excitedly._

_"No way!" he exclaimed. "Show us!"_

_Sirius laid the baby blanket that was draped over his shoulder onto the spot on the couch where James had been sitting before gently placing Leo down._

_"Who's my little LION?!" Sirius exclaimed. On the word "lion", he excitedly tickled the infant, who giggled adorably._

_"Aww!" squealed Peter, along with several others in the room, who had circled the couch to look at the baby. Even Lily had to admit that the baby's laughter was rather endearing._

_"Oooh! Can I try?!" James asked excitedly._

_"Sure, mate," Sirius laughed before moving out of the way._

_"Tickle, tickle, TICKLE!" James said happily, tickling the baby, who immediately began giggling again._

_"He laughed at me, Padfoot!" James exclaimed. "He laughed at me!"_

_Lily could help but chuckle at James' excitement._

* * *

_**January 21, 1977 (Lily's POV)** _

_"Hi, Sirius," Lily greeted as she entered the Ancient Runes classroom and sat down in her usual spot next to Sirius. She had grown much closer to Sirius over the past few months, especially as Sirius was the only member of his friend group to continue Ancient Runes at the N.E.W.T. level. During Ancient Runes, Sirius' friends usually took care of his son, Leo, as they didn't have class, however, Lily had no idea where the child went during classes that Sirius' friends were also in._

_"Hi," Sirius sleepily greeted back, sounding very different from his typically upbeat self. Lily noticed that he had dark circles under his eyes and had quite a bit of trouble keeping his eyes open._

_"Trouble sleeping?" Lily asked._

_"Yeah," he sighed. "Leo's started teething."_

_"Ouch," Lily responded sympathetically. "Poor thing."_

_Sirius nodded, running a hand through his hair. "My uncle Alphard told me that the Black family's notoriously bad with teething, but I didn't expect it to be this bad."_

_"Oh," Lily said. "Loads of crying, then."_

_"Oh, yes," Sirius said. "And a bit of a fever_ and _he keeps nearly choking on his spit because he's been drooling so much."_

_"That sounds awful," Lily said sympathetically. "Is there any way to make him feel a bit better?"_

_Sirius sighed dejectedly. "I've been trying everything. I've tried cold teething rings. I've tried skin-to-skin for the fever. My uncle Alphard suggested massaging Leo's gums with my fingers, and that's worked a bit." He sighed again. "I just hate seeing him in so much pain."_

_Lily couldn't help but wonder why Sirius mentioned his uncle helping him rather than his mother or father._

_"Have you gone to Madam Pomfrey?" she asked, attempting to sound encouraging._

_Sirius' faced flooded with realization. "I've been so worried about Leo, I haven't even thought about that," he said sincerely. "Thank you so much, Lily."_

_Lily chuckled. "No problem, Sirius."_

* * *

**_May 31, 1978 (Lily's POV)_ **

_"Where's my little lion?" Sirius called, pretending to be struggling to find his 21-month-old, who was hiding behind one of the trees next to the lake._

_"Found you!" Sirius said enthusiastically, picking the laughing boy up and kissing him on the cheek. Most of those who were sitting by the lake either studying, talking with friends, or simply relaxing had looked up to watch the father and son, but Sirius didn't seem to notice, only having eyes for Leo, who looked like a tiny carbon copy of Sirius in his white T-shirt, blue jeans, and black trainers, his hair brushed back._

_"You foun' me!" the toddler squealed happily._

_"It's your turn to count, now," Sirius said encouragingly._

_Leo nodded happily before plopping down on the grass, covering his eyes with his hands, and counting as best as he could._

_"One, two,... fwee,...erm,...six,... leben,... and TWENTY!" Leo jumped up and eagerly began looking for Sirius who hid behind a different tree._

_Lily chuckled at the little boy's counting, although she had to admit the fact that a child of not yet two being able to successfully count to three entirely on his own was rather impressive._

_"Foun' you!" Leo squealed, running to hug his father._

_"Wow!" Sirius exclaimed. "How did you find me so fast? Are you just a good finder?"_

_Leo nodded excitedly as Sirius picked him up and snuggled him to his chest._

* * *

"We weren't exactly on great terms before he...before he d-died," Sirius said quietly, looking rather ashamed of himself. It seemed that even speaking of Leo's death hurt him deeply.

Harry had to agree with Sirius' statement. While he could certainly tell that Sirius loved Leo deeply, based on the interactions that Harry had witnessed between them, he hadn't expected Sirius and Leo to have been that close when Leo was a child.

* * *

_**August 6, 1995 (Harry's POV)** _

_"If Harry's not allowed information, then Leo shouldn't be either," Sirius stated angrily to Mrs. Weasley._

_While Harry was certainly eager for more information on the recent actions of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, he didn't want to cause an argument between Sirius and Mrs. Weasley, both of whom he loved dearly._

_"Leo is an adult," Mrs. Weasley argued. "Harry is_ fifteen _."_

_"And yet he's been through much much more than Leo could even imagine," Sirius argued back, making Harry feel rather uncomfortable. He didn't want his experiences to be used as a point to win an argument, no matter how many times he had faced Voldemort or had watched his friends and family get hurt or killed._

_"That's enough, Sirius," Remus said, standing up. "This is a question of what Harry should or should not be told. Leo's place here has nothing to do with it."_

_"Why should he even be here?" Sirius turned angrily to Remus. "He can't even do magic anymore!"_

_Before Remus could defend him again, Leo stood up._

_"Look, if I'm not wanted here, I'll just go," Leo stated somewhat threateningly. "I have no reason to stay here when I'm_ clearly _unwanted."_

_When Harry had first met Sirius' nineteen-year-old son, Leo, he had expected Sirius to shower Leo with affection and attention as he hadn't seen him for several years. Harry was shocked, however, when he entered the dining room to see Leo and Sirius sitting rather far apart from each other, Sirius looking furious while Leo simply looked nonchalant._

_Sirius scoffed. "Just run back to_ _Snivellus, then!"_

_Leo huffed angrily. "Is that what this is about?" he asked in a quiet, stern voice._

_"'_ Is that what this is about?' _," Sirius mocked, rolling his eyes. "You spent the entire meeting kissing Snivelly's_ _arse, and you expect me to have any respect for you?"_

_"Look, I understand you're not fond of her," Leo said, clearly trying to contain his anger. "But she helped me when no one else bothered to. I suppose I feel a bit of loyalty to her. I sorry if you felt hurt by-"_

_Sirius scoffed and rolled his eyes._

_"By me agreeing with her," Leo continued, raising his voice slightly. "But I_ do _tend to see her view on things."_

_"Look at you," Sirius growled angrily at Leo. "You can't even think on your own. I'll bet anything you'll have the Dark Mark just like Snivelly as soon as Voldy decides to show himself. You're a fucking disappointment."_

_For less than a second, Leo looked rather hurt before immediately schooling his features into a neutral expression._

_He nodded curtly before calmly stating, "I don't suppose there's much of a need for me to be here. I'll see you at the next meeting." With that, Leo flooed back to Hogwarts._

* * *

Sirius gulped and looked down before quietly continuing. "The last time I spoke to him was a two months before...b-before what happened at the Ministry," he said, his eyes quickly watering. "We were in the same house, and I didn't speak to him once."

* * *

**_April/May 1996 (Sirius' POV)_ **

_"What the fuck were you thinking?" Sirius said furiously. He was enraged that Leo seemed to care so little about Harry's wellbeing that he would manage to get himself fired from his job as Filch's assistant, a job that allowed him room and board at Hogwarts._

_"It wasn't my fa-"_

_"Again with the fucking_ _excuses," Sirius cut Leo off. "You know what Umbridge is like, and now Harry is stuck at Hogwarts alone with that woman. It was_ your _job to protect him-"_

 _"And I tried!" Leo insisted looking quite angry as well. "I did_ everything _I could. How was I supposed to know that that girl would rat out Harry and his friends?"_

_"You had one fucking job!" Sirius shouted feeling incensed. "Who's going to look out for Harry now? Snape? Filch?"_

_Leo simply huffed, seeming not to have a good argument against this._

_"I suppose you expect to stay here," Sirius growled aggressively._

_Leo sighed. "I haven't anywhere else to go," he said reluctantly. Sirius couldn't help but smirk feeling quite satisfied at Leo's defeated tone. "I was hoping I could stay here, at least for a little while."_

_Sirius raised his eyebrow, waiting for one finally word that would truly solidify his victory in this argument._

_Leo huffed and rolled his eyes. "_ Please, _Dad."_

_Sirius smugly waved his hand as though inviting Leo into his home._

_While a tiny part of him did feel bad that he was treating his son so poorly, he was extremely worried about Harry and his wellbeing, so much so that anyone who possibly put Harry at risk even in the tiniest way became an enemy._

_"Thank you," Leo huffed reluctantly._

_"And if Harry gets hurt because of_ you _not being there to protect him," Sirius warned, as Leo stomped to the empty room that Sirius had given him on the third floor. "It'll be on your head."_

_Over the next few weeks, Sirius had made a point of ignoring Leo whenever he tried to communicate with him._

_"Dad, could you pass me the salt, please?" Leo asked, sitting down at the dining table after making himself some dinner._

_Sirius simply continued eating his own dinner and conversing with Remus as though he couldn't hear Leo. While Sirius knew he was being rather immature, he felt that Leo hadn't fully understand the danger that he had placed Harry in by getting himself fired._

_"Dad," Leo huffed, sounding rather irritated."Dad!"_

_"Sirius, you're acting childish," Remus attempted to reason with him._

_"It's fine, Remus," Leo sighed, standing up and grabbing the salt from the side of the table where Sirius and Remus were sitting. "I've grown quite used to it."_

_It was a while before Leo attempted to interact with Sirius again._

_"Dad, listen, I'm sorry for getting fired," Leo huffed, looking rather frustrated after going nearly two months very little human interaction. "And I'm sorry that there's no one at Hogwarts to make sure Harry's safe all the time. And I'm sorry Harry's not your son and that you have to be stuck with me. But can you, please, please, just talk to me, please?"_

_Sirius simply walked away. He knew the only reason he kept ignoring Leo was purely out of stubbornness and spite, but he didn't quite know how to stop himself. In fact, if it hadn't been for his persistent nature, he would've ran up to Leo immediately and stated that he loved him and wouldn't trade him for anyone not even Harry, but he didn't_

* * *

"And three days later, he was g-gone," Sirius said tearfully. "I never ever meant for him to think that Harry's life was worth more to me than his, but I suppose now that that's how he must've felt."

Harry once again agreed with Sirius' statement. After hearing that Harry had been lured into the Ministry of Magic, Leo had dropped everything to run after him, despite Leo being a squib. He even went as far as pushing Harry out of the way as one of the Death Eaters shot a killing curse at his back, the curse that ultimately took Leo's life.

Just then, McGonagall made an announcement.

"Excuse me, everyone," McGonagall stated, causing the Great Hall to grow quiet. "The Ministry has just announced that they are beginning to send all those who have not been arrested due to involvement with Voldemort back to their homes. They have advised us to do the same. May all those who have homes to go to please form a queue outside my office. All students will also be given next week off to spend time with their families if they wish to."

With that, McGonagall stepped down from the podium and walked out of the Great Hall.

"Would you like to come home with us, Harry?" James asked eagerly. "I'm not sure if there's much of a home left, but we could always just go to Sirius' place."

Harry nodded happily. "Of course, I want to go with you and Mum," he said. "But I think we should go to 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius left it for me after he died, so it's become a bit of a home to me. And the Godric's Hollow house is, well, destroyed, you know, because of Voldemort."

James and Lily nodded in understanding. "That sounds great," Lily said, beaming at Harry.

"Maybe Leo will be there," James said in an upbeat tone, looking at Sirius.

"Maybe," Sirius said in a quiet but hopeful voice.

"Is it alright if we go with you as well?" Remus asked, holding Teddy, who had fallen asleep in his arms.

"Of course, mate," James said.

As Harry, James, Lily, Sirius, Tonks, Remus, and Teddy were near the front of the queue outside McGonagall's office, it didn't take long before they were all flooing to 12 Grimmauld Place.

"Wow," Sirius gasped, looking at the renovated living room. "Is this your work, Harry?"

"Well, I had some help," Harry admitted. "We've cleaned out and changed everything...well, almost everything anyway."

Harry, along with Hermione, Ron, the rest of the Weasleys, and several others, had cleaned out and renovated every room in the house except the one that Sirius had labelled Leo's room.

Just after Leo's death, Sirius had poured his heart and soul into making a bedroom that he felt Leo would've enjoyed had he been alive. He had gone around asking everyone who knew Leo well about all of his favourite colours and items, so that the room would be perfect. Although, during the renovation, Harry had knew that neither Leo nor Sirius would get the chance to enjoy the room, he didn't have the heart to change anything.

"It's definitely brighter in here," James said, looking around. "At least since the last time I was here."

Just then the fireplace once again glowed green and yet another person stepped out of it.


	4. Chapter 4

Out of the fireplace stepped Leo dressed in the same long-sleeved black t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and black trainers that he had been wearing the night he died.

"Oh, wow, erm,... Sorry. I didn't realize you would all be here," Leo said, looking rather surprised to see everyone. "I guess I'll just go."

Just as Leo turned around to go back into the fireplace, Sirius called out to him.

"No!"

"What?" Leo whipped his head around, looking at his father in confusion.

"P-please, please, stay," Sirius said in a quiet, pleading voice. "I-I mean if you want to, that is. This is your home, too. And I... I would really love it if you'd stay."

Leo looked shocked by Sirius' words, but remained where he was.

"Why don't you give us a tour, Harry?" Lily suggested, likely attempting to diffuse some of the tension in the room.

"Yeah, of course," Harry said, feeling that a tour might help Leo and Sirius grow more comfortable with each other's presence before actually having to interact. "Well, I guess I'll start here. This is the sitting room."

He went on to show everyone all of the rooms on the ground floor including the kitchen, dining room, and family room, before leading everyone to the foyer and grand staircase.

"It looks so different," Leo said, smiling. "You must've spent quite a bit of time to get it like this, Harry."

"I had plenty of help," Harry said, happy to see that both Leo and Sirius already appeared quite a bit more comfortable. "But it took us nearly the entire year, we cleaned out and renovated the final room about a month ago."

"Let's go upstairs," James said excitedly.

"Oh, this is just lovely," Tonks exclaimed, as Harry showed the group Teddy's bedroom which was painted a pale blue with a large mural of a forest with a stag, a black dog, and a wolf running happily around the trees facing Teddy's cot.

Harry was happy to see that both Remus and Tonks loved the room, as he had spent several weeks designing the room, wanting it to be a perfect space for Teddy to grow up in.

"Would it be alright if I just laid Teddy down here?" Remus asked, still holding his sleeping child in his arms.

"Of course," Harry said.

"Wasn't his hair yellow before?" James asked, staring bewilderedly at Teddy's hair which was now its natural mousy brown shade.

"He's a metamorphmagus," Remus explained smiling happily at Teddy.

"Just like his mummy," Tonks added, changing her hair and eyes wildly before landing on her preferred short bright pink style.

"Wow, that's so cool!" James exclaimed.

"Does he have any control over it yet?" Lily asked, also looking quite amazed.

Both Remus and Tonks turned to Harry.

"Not quite," Harry stated honestly. "He has a few colours he prefers, usually bright greens, blues, and purples, but his appearance changes based on every little emotion at this point. It's usually bright yellow when he's feeling particularly happy or excited."

"Awww, he was excited to meet us," Tonks squealed, smiling at her baby.

Everyone soon shuffled out of the room, allowing Teddy to continue his nap in the peace and quiet of his room.

"I see you've removed all the portraits," Remus commented as everyone made their way to the second floor.

"That was Bill's work," Harry explained. "I have no idea how he managed to take down Walburga's portrait."

"Probably some crazy curse-breaker magic," Tonks said. "Did he take down the house-elf heads, too? Those were truly disturbing."

Harry laughed. "No, that was actually Kingsley's work," he informed. "But Bill _did_ take down the tapestry and put all of the family relics in the Black family vault."

"That's great," Sirius sighed, looking both relieved and happy.

"How are the Weasleys, by the way?" Tonks asked. "I've already seen Ron and Ginny, but how are the others? Did they make it through the battle alright?"

"Yes, they all made it through," Harry answered, thinking about all the struggles and triumphs the Weasley family had been through over the past year. "Not completely unscathed, though."

* * *

**_May 2, 1998 (Harry's POV)_ **

_"Fred!" Harry heard Percy call frantically only moment after the explosion. "Fred!"_

_Harry rushed over to the pile of rubble where a wall had stood just seconds ago, followed closely by Ron and Hermione who had both thankfully made it through the explosion alright._

_As the explosion had caused the Death Eaters to scatter, they fortunately didn't have to worry too much about being attacked and could focus entirely on making sure that everyone was safe._

_"Where's Fred?" Ron asked, looking significantly more panicked than Harry could ever remember seeing him. "_ _Wher-...Oh, Merlin."_

_It didn't take Harry long to figure out what Ron had seen to make him pause mid-panic. Sticking out of the rubble was Fred's hand which looked almost grey._

_Percy quickly knelt down and clutched Fred's hand._

_"His hand's still warm," Percy sighed, looking up at Harry slightly relieved before turning back to the pile of rubble. "Fred! Fred, we'll get you out of there! Just hang on, you'll be fine!"_

_Ron immediately began trying to lift some of the rubble off of Fred._

_"Move, Ron," Hermione said calmly, lifting her wand. Harry was quite impressed that she was able to maintain her composure as she and Fred had begun dating shortly after her fifth year. The pair had even been planning on moving in together as soon as Hermione finished school._

_"We need to help him!" Ron shouted frantically, shooting an angry glare at Hermione before continuing to throw pieces of the wall off of Fred. "We need to get him out of there!"_

_Harry, however, understood what Hermione intended to do._

_"Use your wand, Ron!" Harry gently reminded him. "It'll be faster."_

_Harry's words seemed to pull Ron out of his panicked stupor._

_Percy also stood up and took out his wand._

_"No, Percy," Hermione said, practically pushing Percy back down. "Keep holding his hand. We won't be able to take all of the rubble off of him at once, so you'll have to tell us if he moves at all."_

_Percy nodded, immediately sitting back down and clutching Fred's limp hand, this time with a look of determination in his eyes._

_From about two meters away, Harry, Ron, and Hermione quickly began lifting the rubble off of Fred._

_"He's moving his fingers!" Percy called after about a minute. The pile of rubble was already half the size that it had been only a minute ago. "Fred, we've almost got you! You'll be alright!"_

_After several more seconds, Fred's head was freed, and Percy immediately crawled over and placed Fred's head in his lap._

_"Fred! Freddie, wake up! Please, wake up!" Percy called,frantically attempting to wipe blood and dirt off of Fred's face._

_"Check his pulse, Percy," Hermione ordered._

_Percy quickly placed two of his fingers on the pulse point in Fred's neck. Colour immediately flowed into Percy's pale face._

_"He's alive," he sighed, looking rather relieved._

_"Is he breathing?" Hermione asked, looking hopeful but clearly trying not to get her hopes up to high._

_"Yes, but barely," Percy answered, before continuing his attempts at waking Fred._

_"P-P-Perce," Fred quietly groaned after several seconds, during which most of the rubble had been moved off of his chest._

_"Fred," Percy said, clearly trying to remain calm now that Fred was awake._

_"Th-that w-w-was a... a g-good joke... P-Perce...," Fred chuckled his voice sounding extremely strained._

_"It was, wasn't it?" Percy chuckled, smiling softly at his brother._

_"'M t-tired, P-Perce...," Fred stammered with a small smile, not seeming at all aware of where he was or the dire situation he was currently in. "I...I t-think I... I th-th-think I'll...t-take a...a n-nap...j-just f-for a b...f-for a b-bit."_

_Percy frantically looked up at Hermione, who immediately shook her head._

_"Keep him awake, Percy," she stated firmly. Harry noticed that, while her voice was steady, her eyes were beginning to look quite scared._

_"No, no, no, Fred. You can't take a nap right now," Percy said gently, stroking Fred's matted, dusty hair. "You need to stay awake just for a little while longer."_

_"B-b-but I...I'm so t-tired,...P-P-Perce," Fred whined, still not seeming too aware._

_"I know, Freddie, I know," Percy said soothingly, surprising Harry with his calmness. "But you have to stay awake now. I need you to stay awake."_

_Fred groaned painfully before finally agreeing. "'K-kay, P-P-Percy...," he stammered, looking as though he was quickly losing energy. "I-I...I'll...I'll t-t...t-try."_

_Fred remained quiet but awake for several seconds before suddenly gasping in pain._

_"We're almost done, Fred," Percy assured calmly. "You'll be alright."_

_"I-It...It h-hurts, P-Per...Percy," Fred moaned, tears falling from his eyes._

_"I know, Fred, I know," Percy said gently. "But you'll be alright soon. I promise everything will be alright soon."_

_After less than a minute, Fred's body was finally freed. Harry couldn't help but gasp at the painful position that Fred's body had been forced in for the past few minutes. His right leg, which had taken the bulk of the rubble, was not only entirely flattened, but also twisted the wrong way._

_"We need to get him to the Hospital Wing," Hermione said, conjuring a stretcher._

_"We're going to take you to the Hospital Wing. Alright, Fred?" Percy gently told Fred, who nodded once before groaning in pain._

_Harry quickly took the Marauders' Map out of his pocket, staring at it for a while before finally finding a safe route to the Hospital Wing._

* * *

"We got him to the Hospital Wing," Harry informed. "But his injuries were so bad that Madam Pomfrey had to get some medics to take him to St. Mungo's."

"Wow," Lily said, looking both shocked and sad despite never having met Fred Weasley. "Is he alright now?"

"They had to amputate his right leg just below the knee because it was too injured to save, so he has a false leg, now," Harry explained. "But for the most part, he's pretty much the same as he's always been."

Sirius chuckled, shaking his head. "Those Weasley twins don't seem to have a good handle on their body parts. First, George's ear. Then, Fred's leg."

"What happened to George's ear?" Leo asked, seeming rather curious.

Sirius, however, seemed some shocked that Leo was actually attempting to interact with him that he just stared open-mouthed at him.

"It got cursed off during a battle," Harry explained quickly, bringing Sirius out of his stupor and causing him to look awkwardly at his feet.

"Ouch," James said, cringing.

"Are Fred and Hermione still together?" Tonks asked, smiling hopefully

"Yes," Harry answered happily, smiling as he remembered one of his favourite moments in Fred and Hermione's relationship, a moment Harry himself had orchestrated.

* * *

**_November 2, 1996 (Harry's POV)_ **

_Harry couldn't help but excitedly rush down to breakfast, excited to complete the final step of his plan: Convincing Hermione to go to_ _Hogsmeade._

_Three days ago, Ron's girlfriend, Lavender Brown, had publicly accused Hermione of attempting to steal Ron away from her. Hermione had attempted to defend herself stating that she had no romantic interest in Ron whatsoever as Ron was one of her closest friends and she already had a boyfriend. Lavender simply laughed at Hermione's statements, shouting that Hermione was 'desperate' as no one would want to date an 'ugly, boring bookworm.' Much to Harry's disgust many of the people who had witnessed the scene, which took place in during breakfast, had laughed at Hermione, who immediately fled the Great Hall in tears._

_After consoling Hermione, Harry immediately went to write a letter to Fred stating that Hermione missed him dearly and would really appreciate it if he visited. He knew that a visit from Fred would not only lift Hermione's spirits but also prove to Lavender and others that Hermione did in fact have a boyfriend._

_Before the day was done, Fred had written back, stating that he would be in Hogsmeade that Saturday at around noon._

_"Hi, Harry," Hermione greeted, sitting down next to Harry before dishing herself some breakfast. "Are you going to Hogsmeade today?"_

_Harry nodded, as his mouth was very full._

_"Oh," Hermione responded, looking quite disappointed. "That's nice."_

_"You should come with me," Harry suggested, hoping his voice didn't sound too suspicious._

_"Oh, I don't know," Hermione said nervously. "I'd rather not run into, you know,_ them _."_

_"You shouldn't let them ruin your fun, Hermione," Harry said. "It's not fair to yourself."_

_Hermione remained quiet for a while, seemingly thinking over what Harry had just said._

_"You know, you're right, Harry," she stated firmly. "We should go to_ _Hogsmeade. Who cares what they think?"_

_Hermione immediately grabbed Harry's hand and stomped over to the line of students going to Hogsmeade._

_As Harry and Hermione were walking along the row of shops, they were confronted by Ron and Lavender._

_"Hi, Harry, Hermione," Ron greeted happily. "I didn't realize you two would be here. Wanna go get a butterbeer?"_

_"Won-Won!" Lavender pouted exaggeratedly. "I thought we were going to Madam Puddifoot's!"_

_Ron's face immediately fell. "Oh, right," he said somewhat dejectedly._

_Lavender kissed Ron on the cheek before smiling smugly. "And what are you doing here, Hermione? Looking for your imaginary boyfriend?"_

_"He's not imaginary," Hermione sighed angrily._

_"He really isn't, Lav," Ron said, clearly growing uncomfortable._

_"Well, where is he, then?" Lavender asked Hermione, completely ignoring Ron's statement. "I don't see him anywhere."_

_"I do," Harry said, spotting Fred, wearing a tux and holding a bouquet of roses, waving excitedly in the distance._

_Hermione immediately looked up, while Lavender and Ron spun around._

_"Fred?" Hermione said, smiling widely as he came closer._

_"Hi, darling," Fred greeted, pulling Hermione in for a kiss, before handing her the bouquet._

_"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked, clearly unable to remove the smile from her face._

_Lavender stared at the scene open-mouthed, looking stunned._

_"I just thought I'd pay my beautiful girlfriend a visit," Fred said, discreetly winking at Harry._

_"That's really sweet," Hermione said, blushing quite a bit._

_"You wouldn't mind if I steal this lovely lady away for a bit, would you?" Fred asked, linking arms with Hermione._

_"Not at all," Harry said, holding back the desire to ask Lavender her opinion. "Have fun on your date."_

* * *

After a few more minutes of discussing the Weasleys, the tour of 12 Grimmauld Place continued.

When they arrived at the fifth bedroom on the third floor, Harry stopped.

"I think Sirius should show us this room," he stated.

Sirius looked shocked at Harry. "You didn't change it?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"It was perfect just as you left it," Harry said, stepping out of the way so that Sirius could show everyone, but mainly Leo, what he had worked on over the last few years of his life.

Sirius' hands trembled as he opened the door, before stepping aside allowing each person into the room.

"Wow," James gasped, looking around the room.

"This is amazing, Sirius," Tonks sighed.

"Do you like it, Leo?" Sirius asked, nervously wringing his hands, clearly anxious over his son's reaction.

Leo seemed completely speechless. The room had bright blue walls, a large beautiful bed in the center, a few framed photographs on the walls, and large tree-shaped bookcase, which took up an entire wall of the room.

"I-I made it for you," Sirius said quietly, after Leo didn't answer.

"You really didn't need to do all this," Leo stated.

"But I _wanted_ to," Sirius insisted desperately. "I know I haven't been the best father... not for a long time."

* * *

**_October 7, 1980_ **

_"Hi, little Prongslet," Sirius sighed, holding his sleeping two-month-old godson in his arms. He couldn't believe that the tiny child in his arms was currently the target of one of the most evil wizards to have ever existed. From the moment he had learned of Harry's fate, Sirius had dropped everything to protect Harry from harm._

_"Here, let me put him in his cot," Lily suggested, slowly standing up._

_"No, no," Sirius insisted. Despite the terrible headache he had from a full day spent investigating the latest suspected Death Eater hideout, he felt that it was all worth it knowing that James, Lily, and especially Harry were safe. "I'll lay him down. No problem."_

_He walked upstairs to Harry's bedroom, barely registering the quick, tiny footsteps of his own son following him._

_"Goodnight, Prongslet," Sirius sighed, gently placing the baby down into the cot before placing a kiss on his forehead. "You are so so loved, little Harry. And not even Voldemort will take us away from you."_

_Sirius stared at Harry for a few seconds before realizing he wasn't alone in the room._

_"Leo!" Sirius hush-whispered at his son, who was standing on his tiptoes staring at the sleeping infant. "What are you doing in here? Harry's trying to sleep."_

_Sirius immediately picked his son up and moved him out of the room._

_"I just wanted to say goodnight to baby Harry," Leo mumbled._

_Sirius simply sighed and shook his head, placing Leo down before greeting James and Lily._

_"I'll see you tomorrow," Sirius said, hugging his friends. Everyday before work, Sirius dropped Leo off at the Potters as he had no one else to watch the four-year-old. Most nights, including that one, Sirius and Leo stayed for dinner before going back to Sirius' flat._

_After finally arriving back to his flat, Sirius was ready to go to bed, hoping that the next day wouldn't be as bad._

_"Daddy?" Leo asked, just as Sirius opened the door to his bedroom._

_"Yes, Leo," Sirius groaned, rubbing his temples._

_"Could you read to me a bedtime story?"_

_"Not tonight, Leo," Sirius responded as kindly as he could. "I'm too tired."_

_"Oh," Leo responded sadly. "Could you tuck me into bed, then?"_

_Sirius huffed. "Leo, you are four years old. You can tuck yourself in."_

_"But you tucked in baby Harry," the little boy argued sadly. "You even gived him a goodnight kiss."_

_"_ Gave, _Leo. I_ gave _Harry a kiss," Sirius corrected, feeling even more irritated. "And that's because_ Harry _is a baby._ You _are not. You can get into bed yourself."_

_"But..."_

_"GO TO BED, LEO!" Sirius roared, his headache and exhaustion getting the best of him. "I'm tired and I don't need you running around here whining!"_

_"Okay, Daddy," Leo mumbled sadly, toddling off to his room._

* * *

"And I know you're probably too old for bedtime stories or goodnight kisses or getting tucked in at night," Sirius added, clearly trying his best to maintain his composure despite his eyes quickly filling with tears. "But I'll do my very best to make it up to you in any way that I can. You name it, a-and I'll make it happen."

Leo stared at Sirius for a few seconds before speaking. "Well, I am _definitely_ too old for everything you've just mentioned," he said jokingly, looking mortified at the idea of his father tucking him into bed.

Sirius chuckled in a clear attempt to hide the pain he felt. Whether he was hiding the painful regret of his past actions or merely the pain of realizing that his baby was now a grown man, or some combination of both, Harry couldn't tell.

"But honestly," Leo continued. "You not reading me a bedtime story or tucking me in doesn't even make the list of my worst childhood moments. So, you're certainly forgiven."

Rather than looking grateful for being forgiven, Sirius immediately looked concerned.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, staring worriedly at his son.

For a split second, Leo looked quite a bit taken aback, before shrugging nonchalantly.

"Oh, nothing, really," he said dismissively. "It's just not the _easiest_ being the child of a mass murderer."

"Oh, right," Sirius said, chuckling awkwardly.

"Not your fault, though," Leo reassured, seeming sincere. "Dear old Uncle Pete gets the blame for that."

"Hear! Hear!" James said, pretending to raise a glass.

Harry went on to show everyone the topmost floor of the house where Sirius and his brother, Regulus', rooms used to be. The two rooms had been combined and the entirety of the fourth floor was turned into a library with large windows, comfortable armchairs, and a wide variety of books.

"And that's the end of the tour," Harry said, after showing everyone around the library. "Any questions?"

"Lily and I are taking the yellow room on the second floor!" James announced jovially.

Soon everyone had moved to the family room, conversing happily.

"I see you and Professor Snape are getting along quite well now," Remus said to Harry.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, after I learned the truth, it was a bit difficult to keep hating her," he said simply.

Tonks shook her head. "It's more than just that, though," she insisted. "I understand not hating each other, but Snape actually volunteered to find you when you didn't show up for lunch. That shows a bit more than a lack of hatred."

Lily nodded in agreement. "And she was rather insistent about making you feel comfortable," she added.

* * *

**_May 2, 1999 (Lily's POV)_ **

_After several minutes of waiting, Severus finally reemerged through the doors of the Great Hall. Just as everyone stood up, clearly expecting to see Harry walking in behind her, Severus slammed the doors shut._

_"Sit down," she ordered._

_"Where's Harry?" James asked defiantly, continuing to stand._

_Severus scoffed. "He was worried about the overblown reception he would receive," she drawled, with a bit of a smirk. "A reception he undoubtedly would have received if I had chosen to ignore his protests and brought him here against his will."_

_James glared at Severus for a few more seconds before sitting back down._

_"Is there anyway we can get Harry to come down here," Lily asked, attempting to keep the peace. "We just want to see him."_

_Severus sighed, immediately dropping her snarky expression. "He said that he would be willing to have lunch here on the condition that he would be treated just as any other student would be."_

_"What do you suggest we do, Severus?" Professor McGonagall asked. "You are one of the few people who truly knows the boy."_

_This information had surprised Lily quite a bit. While she loved Severus like a sister, she couldn't ignore Severus' ability to harbour resentment over any matter, large or small. Because of this she had expected Harry to be treated rather harshly by Severus, and, based on what Remus, Tonks, and Sirius had said, her assumptions had been correct. Lily simply couldn't understand why McGonagall thought that Severus was one of the only people who knew Harry well._

_Severus remained quiet for a few moments, seemingly deep in thought._

_"I'll bring Harry down here for lunch," she stated. "When we enter through the doors, treat us exactly as you would an ordinary pair of students. Once he appears more comfortable, a few of his friends should approach him, one at a time. Refrain from discussing the events from earlier today until and unless he initiates conversation. After a while, he should be comfortable enough for others to approach him as long as he is treated like a typical student and not like a celebrity."_

_"Are those his words or yours, Snape?" Remus asked, sounding uncharacteristically scathing. "Because, if my memory is correct,_ you _were the one with an odd distaste for Harry's fame."_

_"Why don't you ask him yourself, Lupin?" Severus replied coolly. "Although, I must insist that you refrain from asking him the moment he enters the room, for you will not be the one left to deal with the repercussions."_

_Remus angrily sat back down, but didn't say anything in response._

_"Now," Severus said with a satisfied smirk. "If everyone is comfortable with the plan, I shall go retrieve young Mr. Potter."_

* * *

"I have to admit, after what I heard from Remus, Sirius, and Tonks, I though you two would be at very very most tolerant of each other," Lily stated. "You can imagine how shocked I was to see the two of you chatting and smiling."

"Professor Snape's helped me quite a bit this past year," Harry stated simply. "And before then, I suppose, but a bit more... _reluctantly_."

"Why would she help you now that Voldemort's dead?" Sirius asked, looking quite confused. "I thought her entire reason for helping you was because she was loyal to Dumbledore's cause."

"Well, actually, her reason for helping me in the first place wasn't out of loyalty to Dumbledore. She did it because she loved _you,_ Mum. You were her only true friend," Harry explained.

Lily smiled brightly.

"And, I'm not entirely sure why she's been helping me," Harry continued. "At first, I guess she probably felt she owed me for saving her life, even though I told her that it was the least I could do after everything she did."

Harry chuckled to himself at Snape's stubbornness and her blatant dislike for feeling indebted to anyone.

"What about now?" Tonks asked.

Harry considered Tonks question for a few moments.

"I'm not sure," he replied honestly. "I think we just sort of realized that we were more alike than different. Also, her... _prickly_ disposition is more of a defense mechanism than anything else. Once you get past it, she can be quite nice. Still a bit blunt and harsh, mind you, but certainly not mean."

Sirius raised his eyebrows skeptically.

"It's true," Harry insisted. "She once spent nearly two hours helping me with a Potions theory I was confused about. And this morning, she actually helped me calm down when I was a bit overwhelmed about everyone being back. Although, don't mention it to her because she may kill me. And she sometimes makes me Dreamless Sleep potions when the nightmares get bad. Oh, and she brewed me a hangover potion after Ron's birthday party."

"A hangover potion?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.

"And I probably shouldn't have mentioned that to my parents," Harry mumbled, causing everyone to laugh.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains mentions of severe child abuse

The next few days went well for Harry, who had quickly grown accustomed to his parents' presence in his life. He had spent his mornings cooking breakfast with his mother before eating with everyone who was currently living at 12 Grimmauld Place, which included Remus, Tonks, and Teddy, as the apartment that Remus and Tonks had had in London had been destroyed by Death Eaters shortly before the end of the war. Harry's afternoons were spent either playing quidditch with his father, Sirius, and Tonks, spending time with Teddy, or simply speaking with his parents, Remus, Tonks, Leo, and Sirius.

Harry was happy to see that the relationship between Leo and Sirius was already growing stronger. Sirius had even been teaching Leo how to play gobstones and exploding snap. Harry couldn't help but wonder if Leo was raised in a muggle orphanage after Sirius was thrown in jail as Leo didn't seem to know too much about games or stories that most children who grew up in wizarding families knew.

After three perfect days, Harry was quickly brought back to reality after reading the Daily Prophet. While the newspapers of the previous three days had all had fairly happy stories often including interviews of family members of those who had returned, the Daily Prophet delivered to 12 Grimmauld Place that Wednesday morning during breakfast had a headline that hit Harry like a blow to the stomach.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Lily asked gently, placing a hand on Harry's arm.

Without speaking, Harry handed his mother the newspaper which explained that, while most of the returned Death Eaters had been immediately captured and taken to Azkaban to await trial, there were a few who managed to escape, namely Bellatrix Lestrange, Alecto and Amycus Carrow, Augustus Rockwood, and Evan Rosier.

Lily's face immediately fell, and she quickly passed the paper over to James, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and Leo.

Upon reading the paper, Leo immediately stood up and turned to leave the room.

"Are you alright, Leo?" Sirius asked, looking quite worried.

"Oh, erm, yes, I-I'm fine,..." Leo stammered awkwardly. "I just need a minute."

With that, he quickly left the room.

For a moment it seemed that Sirius would rush after him, but he eventually sat back down rather reluctantly.

"We should contact Kingsley," Remus said, standing up immediately.

"Wait," Harry said. "Kingsley's Head of the Auror Office now, so he probably already knows."

Sirius nodded in agreement, before looking confused. "I wonder why he hasn't contacted us."

"Maybe he's got the Aurors working on it," James suggested.

Tonks shook her head. "He offered me my Auror job back two days ago," she stated. "And he hasn't contacted me about it."

"That's odd," Sirius remarked. "I would've thought you'd be one of the first he'd tell."

Harry had to agree with Sirius' statement as Tonks was one of the few people who was both an Auror and a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

Just then, Harry spotted a Ministry owl flying towards the window.

"That must be from Kingsley," Lily stated, standing up and opening the window to take the letter from the owl.

"It's for you, Harry," she said, reading the name on the envelope before handing the letter to Harry.

"What's it say?" James asked eagerly, as Harry quickly read through the letter.

"He wants us to lie low and contact all the old Order and of-age D.A. members," Harry explained.

Over the next few hours, Harry, Lily, James, Sirius, and Tonks quickly contacted all of the previous members of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army, a group created by Harry, Ron, and Hermione a few years ago to secretly learn proper defensive skills, to see if they would be willing to join a reestablished Order of the Phoenix that would work to catch the recently escaped Death Eaters. By noon of that same day, they had heard back from everyone they contacted, most of whom, including all of the adult Weasleys, Hermione, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood, had stated that they would be happy to return. Harry quickly wrote back to Kingsley with a list of everyone who was interested, and by mid-afternoon Kingsley had organized the very first meeting of the third Order of the Phoenix at Grimmauld Place that very same evening.

Much sooner than Harry had anticipated, most of the reestablished Order, which was made up of both former Order members and D.A. members, along with Draco who was the only member who hadn't been in either group, were sitting around the dining room table in 12 Grimmauld Place. Bill and Fleur, whose daughter, Victoire, had been born only a few days ago, had offered to watch Teddy and Scorpius as they wouldn't be attending the meeting.

"Fred and George should be here soon," Remus announced after receiving word from them that they were just closing up their store for the night and would be there shortly.

"Great," James said enthusiastically. Both he and Sirius had grown rather close to the Weasley twins over the past few days, even dubbing them the fourth and fifth Marauders.

"I'll just go see if Leo's feeling better," Sirius said, looking rather concerned that his son hadn't left his room since that morning.

After a few minutes, Fred and George arrived, and Sirius had returned to the dining room stating that, while Leo wanted to remain in the Order, he wasn't feeling well enough to attend the first meeting.

"Hello, everyone," Kingsley began, officially starting the meeting. Just after the Order was reestablished, Kingsley, as head of the Auror Office, was chosen as leader. "Do we have any questions before we begin?

Marlene McKinnon, one of the youngest members of the original Order of the Phoenix, stood up.

"I mean no offense by this, but why are people who aren't even able to remember the first fight against Voldemort allowed in this meeting? They can't even imagine what it was like before. How could they possibly contribute?"

Most of the members of the first Order including Sirius, Remus, Lily, and James nodded in agreement with Marlene's statement. This caused Harry to feel furious. While he knew that he could never understand what it had been like when Voldemort had first begun taking over as he had only been an infant when Voldemort had been temporarily defeated, he felt outraged and even a bit betrayed that the horrors he and his friends had faced were simply being brushed off.

Just as Harry stood up, about to defend his friends, Snape pushed him back down, standing up instead.

"You have no idea what the people you insist on treating like children have faced," she stated seriously, without a hint of a smile on her face.

"Can it honestly be worse than finding your friend's house with a dark mark over it?" Sirius asked, smirking meanly at Snape.

"Or having the Cruciatus curse used on you for hours on end?" Frank Longbottom asked.

"Or watching as Death Eaters storm your house?" Emmeline Vance added.

"I don't know," Snape said with a smirk that said the exact opposite. "Why don't you ask George Weasley if getting your ear blown off permanently and, before even having the chance to fully acknowledge what happened, being dragged into a full-blown war compares? Or ask Fred Weasley about how it feels to be stuck in a hospital bed without one of your limbs while everyone else is out celebrating the end of the war? Or ask Luna Lovegood how it feels to be kidnapped by Death Eaters and held for ransom? Or ask Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley how it feels to continually put their lives and the lives of their families in danger in order to stand by a friend who has had a target on his back since before he was born?"

One by one the older Order members sat back down looking shocked and rather ashamed of themselves, but Snape pressed on.

"Oh, but it can't possibly be worse than when Voldemort first took over," she said sarcastically. "The younger Order members couldn't possibly know what it's like to have Hogwarts, the one place considered safe, overrun by Death Eaters and being dragged into a horrendously dreadful hours-long battle. Oh, wait, that didn't happen during Voldemort's first attempt at taking over."

"And if any one of these examples is not enough," Snape said with an air of finality. "I should think the lifetime of pain and struggle faced by Harry Potter would be enough to validate at very least his position in the Order."

"I suppose I hadn't thought about it that way," Marlene stated sheepishly, finally sitting back down.

Snape simply smirked and sat back down, the younger people in the room looking at her with a newfound respect, while those who had initially deemed Harry and his friends inexperienced looked down in shame.

"If there are no more questions, let's start this meeting," Kingsley said smiling in clear agreement with Severus' words. "I'm assuming everyone's heard the latest news on the missing Death Eaters."

He looked around to ensure that everyone had been caught up.

"Great," Kingsley said, smiling. "Do we have any developments since the Daily Prophet this morning?"

"I've heard a few different theories, but none of them seem to have much evidence behind them," said Emmeline, who had returned to her job as a journalist for the Daily Prophet.

"What were the theories?" Remus asked politely.

"Well, the first one was that they were hiding out in the Forbidden Forest, but I checked with McGonagall and Hagrid, and the school and grounds have been fully searched and closely monitored," Emmeline explained. "The second one said that they have a secret lair underneath Gringotts, which is utterly ridiculous. And the third one said that they were hiding out in a mansion in northern France."

Both Sirius and Draco looked up at this information.

"What is it?" Kingsley asked.

Sirius and Draco looked at each other for a moment before Sirius spoke.

"Plenty of Black family members have vacation homes in France, my parents included," he informed. "Those mansions would all have very strong security measures, but I'm not sure if the Lestranges or the others have homes there, though."

"They do," Draco revealed quietly, his face looking even paler than it usually did. "The Lestranges have a house somewhere in Aisne."

"Are you certain, Draco?" Ginny asked, gently placing a hand on her boyfriend's arm, looking at him with concern.

While Draco and Ginny hadn't gotten along at all at first, mostly due to the Malfoys considering the Weasley family to be "bloodtraitors" and the hostility between Harry, Ron, and Hermione and Draco, they grew closer over Ginny's sixth year and Draco's seventh, eventually becoming a couple by the middle of the school year.

"My parents gave it to them after they broke out of prison. It used to be our summer home," Draco explained in the same quiet voice.

"Is there any chance the Death Eaters could be hiding out there?" Kingsley asked.

"I think there's a pretty good chance," Draco said. "It's very well-secured, unplottable, loads of different enchantments. It's nearly impossible to find without knowing exactly where it is."

"I thought all of the former Death Eater hideouts were destroyed after the Battle of Hogwarts," Ron stated, looking confused.

"The Aisne house wasn't exactly a hideout," Draco explained. "And I'm nearly entirely certain that the Lestranges, my parents, Voldemort, and I were the only ones that knew it even existed."

"You know where it is, though, right?" Harry asked Draco urgently. He knew that if Draco could give them an exact location and the Death Eaters did end up being there, the situation would be taken care of rather quickly.

"No, my parents usually just apparated me there," Draco sighed, looking quite upset with himself. "All I know for certain is that it's in Aisne."

"Can you give us any more details that might help with the location?" Tonks asked.

Draco thought for a moment. "It's surrounded by woods," he stated after several seconds. "And there's a river near enough that you can sometimes hear it flowing, but not near enough that you can see it from the house. Oh, and there are no other houses in sight."

Emmeline quickly wrote down all of this information.

"I'm sorry I don't know any more details," Draco apologized.

Remus shook his head. "No need, Draco," he assured. "This is more than enough to start."

"Does anyone else know of any potential Death Eater hideouts in France?" Kingsley asked looking around the room.

Snape looked up. "I know that at some point the Carrows had a mansion in central France," she informed. "I can't say with any certainty where exactly or if it still exists, but I do know it was in central France."

"Have you been to this mansion?" Kingsley asked.

Severus nodded. "Dumbledore asked me to retrieve something, or rather someone, from there."

"Who?" Lily asked, looking rather confused, as did most others in the room.

"Leo," Snape answered simply.

"And what was Leo doing with the Carrows?" Sirius asked, looking much more concerned than angry.

Harry couldn't help but wonder the same thing. In the short time that Harry had known Leo, he had been nothing but kind and helpful, a stark difference from the sadistic Carrows who took any and every opportunity to hurt others. In fact, during the time that Umbridge had been at Hogwarts, Leo had helped Harry and his friends avoid detention multiple times, while the Carrows made Umbridge seem like a fair and decent human being.

Snape began looking confused. "He hasn't told you?"

"No. Leo hasn't mentioned a thing about the Carrows," Sirius said almost frantically but clearly trying his best to maintain composure.

"Come to think of it, he hasn't mentioned much about his past at all really," Tonks stated,her face growing rather pale.

"Severus, we need to know exactly what happened to Leo at the Carrows," Remus said abruptly.

Snape began looking rather uncomfortable. "I'm not sure if it's my place to say."

"Why don't you just tell us what happened while you were at the Carrows?" Lily suggested gently. "We can always ask Leo if he's willing to talk about his own experiences."

"Alright," Severus said, sighing reluctantly. "But I should warn you, it is not a pleasant story."

* * *

**_August 1, 1993 (Severus' POV)_ **

_Standing outside the door to the Carrows' large mansion in the woods of central France, Severus couldn't quite understand why she was there. Dumbledore had sent her to go to the place where Amycus and Alecto Carrow were evading capture to obtain what he had described as an "undervalued factor of substantial importance". She had to assume that whatever it was that Dumbledore needed her to retrieve would help Harry Potter have an advantage over Voldemort. Dumbledore had further stated that the Carrows would very likely not be willing to part with this particular object and that she would have to obtain it discreetly. The plan was that Severus would write the Carrows telling them that she may be willing to help them with their plan to create a rather cruel potion which would mimic the effects of the Cruciatus Curse and that she wanted to visit them at their hideout to discuss the plan further. While staying at the Carrow mansion for any amount of time, let alone an entire weekend, was very low on the list of Severus' favourite activities, her loyalty to the fight against Voldemort was stronger than her distaste at the Carrows._

_"Why, hello, Severus," Alecto drawled, opening the door not long after Severus knocked. "Do come in."_

_While it was typically rather easy for Severus to interact with the Death Eaters, she always got an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach when interacting with Alecto Carrow, and her brother Amycus. Unlike the other Death Eaters, Bellatrix included, the Carrows almost never killed their enemies using the Killing Curse, choosing instead to torture them using various methods until they eventually died._

_"Boy! Bring the tea tray for our guest!" Amycus shouted. "And take her bag to the guest room."_

_A few seconds later, a tall, emaciated young man entered the room wearing rags. The young man placed the tea tray down onto the coffee table and grabbed Severus' suitcase before hurriedly leaving the room. In the brief moment that Severus made eye contact with the young man, she couldn't help but notice that he had a rather handsome and oddly familiar face, despite being clearly malnourished and clothed in rags._

_"See something you like, Severus?" Amycus asked, smirking. Given that Amycus had asked this question the moment after the young man left the room, Severus had to assume that he was referring to him._

_"Why don't we make a deal with you, dear Severus," Alecto said, sitting down across from her. "You help us with our little potion idea. And we'll send the boy to your room for the weekend. Let you have a bit of fun with him."_

_"Don't worry, we're quite certain we've beaten any real fight out of him," Amycus assured sordidly. "But he's rather good at pretending if you want him to."_

_Severus felt rather sick at the Carrow siblings' words. Just as she was about to vehemently decline the offer, she realized that perhaps the young man would be able to help her find what Dumbledore had sent her there for._

_She nodded curtly, not wanting to agree out loud for fear that she would get sick on the carpet._

_"Excellent," Alecto said, standing up. "I'll just hose the boy off and take him to your room."_

_"Don't worry about feeding him during your time here," Amycus stated after Alecto left the room. "He got his allowance this morning."_

_"Won't he need more food than that?" Severus asked, remembering that she would be there for two days._

_Amycus laughed sadistically. "You were always much too kind, Severus," he remarked. "If Alecto and I fed that thing everyday, do you really think he'd be the obedient little slut he is?"_

_"I suppose not," Severus said, schooling her features into a neutral expression, which Amycus seemed to take as an agreement._

_Amycus jovially clapped Severus on the shoulder. "You're learning, Severus."_

_"Let us discuss the potion," Alecto stated, reentering the room._

_After about two hours of discussing the theoretical technicalities and peculiarities of creating a potion that would act as a long-lasting Cruciatus curse, during which a house-elf had brought them dinner, Amycus, Alecto, and Severus all made their way to their separate rooms._

_"Have a good night, Severus," Alecto greeted with a wink._

_Severus entered her room to find the young man standing in a corner wearing a different, somewhat cleaner set of rags. After placing a silencing charm on the room, she stared at the young man for several seconds, not sure how to approach the situation._

_"Good evening, ma'am," the young man said in a rather monotone voice. "What is it that you would like me to do?"_

_"Pardon?" Severus asked, somewhat surprised that the young man had spoken._

_The young man looked rather confused. "Would you like me to lay down on the bed or remove my clothes or...?_

_The young man's voice trailed off, and he simply looked expectantly at Severus as though waiting for her to give him an order._

_Severus remained quiet for a moment, contemplating what to say. She couldn't help but notice that rather than being panicked or afraid, the young man seemed resigned to the situation he was in, as though he had been rented out to strangers many times before._

_"Sit down," Severus said, gesturing towards an armchair near the corner of the room._

_"Alright," the young man said, obediently sitting down in the armchair._

_"What's your name?" Severus asked as gently as she could._

_This seemed to take the young man by surprise. "M-my name, ma'am?" he asked with a slight nervous tone to his voice._

_"Yes," Severus confirmed, holding back a retort. "Your name."_

_"My real name or some other sort of name, ma'am?" the young man asked, his face schooled into a neutral expression, but his eyes looking the slightest bit confused and frightened._

_"Your real name," Severus stated. "And you may calm down, I don't intend on doing anything to you. Regardless of what your wardens may believe."_

_She had expected her statement to convince the young man to trust, but it appeared that her words had simply made him more concerned._

_"What do you mean, ma'am?" the young man asked, looking at her suspiciously._

_Severus huffed, unsure of how to interact with someone who, despite his young age, was clearly much more used to being abused than being treated with kindness. "Unlike the Carrows and their associates, I have no interest in severely abusing another human being, regardless of how accustomed that human being is to violence being afflicted upon him."_

_The young man remained quiet before speaking again._

_"Thank you, ma'am," he said quietly, bowing his head slightly. Severus could tell, however, that he was still doubtful of her intentions._

_Severus nodded curtly. "Now, may you inform me of your name?"_

_The young man sighed with a distinct air of reluctant submission. "Well, ma'am, I'm not entirely certain," he explained. "I've been here since I was rather young, and I don't remember much from before. And Madam Alecto and Master Amycus usually just call me 'boy' or...other names."_

_"What would be your best guess?" Severus asked, noticing that he hadn't stated that he didn't know but rather that he wasn't entirely certain._

_"I'm quite certain I was called 'Leo'," the young man stated. "But I can't be sure if that was my name or just a nickname. I think my last name was a color like 'blue' or 'black' or 'brown'."_

_He looked nervously at Severus. "I'm sorry, ma'am, that's really all I know about my name."_

_Severus looked closely at the young man._

_"What else do you remember from before you were brought here?" Severus asked, more for confirmation about what she was already quite certain about than to gather more information._

_"Well, I remember living with my dad most of the time," the young man stated. "Sometimes when he was busy working, he would take me to his friends' house. I can't remember their names, but they were a man and a woman with a baby called Harry."_

_For the briefest of moments, a small smile crossed his lips._

_"My dad seemed really close with them, and he really loved the baby," he continued. "The last thing I can clearly remember is my dad telling me to be brave and protect Harry. I always thought that my dad must've sent me here to protect Harry somehow, maybe he thought that Harry would've been sent here if I wasn't, so I've just never left."_

_Severus now felt certain of the identity of the young man. He had to have been the baby called 'Leo' that Sirius Black had raised during his last two years at Hogwarts, continuing until he was thrown in Azkaban for murdering twelve muggles and Peter Pettigrew._

_"How would you feel about leaving here?" Severus asked._

_"I can't, ma'am," Leo answered promptly, a sad smile on his face. "The Carrows wouldn't let me, and I wouldn't want Harry to be sent here if that's why I had to be here in the first place."_

_"The Carrows wouldn't have to know," Severus assured. "And Harry is safe where he is. He won't be sent here."_

_Leo remained silent for several seconds. "Why are you helping me?" he asked curtly, looking skeptically at Severus._

_Severus considered the question for a while. She had initially considered simply answering that she was told to rescue him, but then she realized that this hadn't been true at all. She could've easily stunned the young man and apparated the pair of them to Hogsmeade before flooing to Hogwarts, but for some odd reason she wanted Leo to trust her. Despite the fact that Leo looked more like Sirius Black than Harry looked like James Potter, Severus felt a deep need to help Leo. She had to admit that she felt rather angry that everyone ran around after the great Harry Potter, while this young man, who had lost just as much and had been through so much worse, had been thrown at the wayside, no one caring if he was hurt or even dead._

_"No one deserves the life you've had," Severus answered sincerely. "I would like to offer you a better one."_

_"How can I be sure I can trust you?" Leo asked, seeming slightly curious now._

_"You can't be," Severus said simply. "But what could I do to you that would be worse than what you've already gone through here?"_

_Leo seemed to consider what Severus had said before giving a small nod._

_"Are you capable of apparition?" Severus asked, beginning to formulate a plan._

_"I don't even know what that is, ma'am," Leo responded sheepishly._

_"Can you travel from one place to another nearly instantly?" Severus asked, surprisingly not getting irritated at the young man's lack of knowledge._

_"No, ma'am," Leo said, looking disappointed. "I lost my magic a while ago."_

_Severus had expected this, as severe abuse often caused one's magical abilities to become suppressed or even disappear._

_"Are the Carrows aware of this?" she asked._

_"I don't think so, ma'am," Leo stated. "I received a letter from a wizarding school a while back but they wrote back stating that I wouldn't be attending. And they always make sure to hide their wands from me whenever they're not holding them."_

_Over the next several minutes, Severus came up with a plan that would free Leo without causing the Carrows to suspect her._

_"Alright, I have a plan," Severus stated. "I will apparate the pair of us to Hogsmeade. From there, we will use the fireplace at The Three Broomsticks to floo to my office. You will remain there, while I floo back to The Three Broomsticks before apparating back here. I will then tell the Carrows that you had knocked me unconscious as I entered my room and that when I awoke both you and my wand were gone."_

_"That's a great plan," Leo remarked quietly. "But how will you get back in? They have very strong wards."_

_"They've allowed me to apparate in and out for potions ingredients," Severus responded promptly._

* * *

"Everything went to plan," Snape stated. "The Carrows believed every word of my story and were, of course, furious. They even offered me free reign over Leo once they were finished with him. I suppose they were under the impression that they would find him rather quickly."

Sirius suddenly stood up and left, slamming the front door behind him.


	6. Chapter 6

The room was filled with a nauseating silence. Harry himself felt rather sick to his stomach from what he had just heard. While he knew that being the son of someone who was thought to be one of Voldemort's main supporters must've been difficult, he had no idea that Leo had been through much worse than simply having people judge him because of his father. In Harry's opinion, even without their other unsavory actions, the Carrows deserved the Dementor's Kiss for what they had done to Leo.

"Wow," Ron sighed, looking absolutely horrified and at a complete loss for words.

"Who would do that to any child, let alone one as sweet as Leo?" Marlene asked, looking quite pale. "I was never around him much, but every time I saw him he had a huge smile on his face."

Lily simply shook her head sadly.

"Are you alright, Remus?" Tonks gently asked her boyfriend, who looked very much like he was about to be sick.

"I never realized that he had gone through all that," he mumbled nearly inaudibly.

* * *

_**September 2, 1993 (Remus' POV)** _

" _Hi, Uncle Remus," said Leo, practically running over to greet Remus. "It's nice to see you again. How have you been?"_

" _No running in the hallways, Mr. Black," Remus stated, harsher than he had meant to, but not feeling the least bit sorry as it had been Leo's father who had caused Lily and James to be murdered and Harry to become an orphan. "And it's_ Professor Lupin _to you."_

_Leo's face fell slightly. "Oh, erm… right, sorry, Professor Lupin."_

_Remus nodded sharply. "Shouldn't you be in class, Mr. Black?" he asked, certain that Leo must have inherited his father's disregard for rules. "All students should be in class, regardless of how brilliant they believe they are."_

_Leo looked entirely taken aback by Remus' statement._

" _I'm not a student, Unc-Professor Lupin," he insisted, holding out his I.D. card, which stated that he was assistant caretaker._

_Remus snatched the card from Leo, closely examining the card. While it looked legitimate, Remus knew that, given that Leo was a Black, there was quite a high likelihood that it could be a fake._

" _I didn't realize there was an assistant caretaker position," he stated, glaring skeptically at Leo._

" _Professor Dumbledore gave me the job about a week ago," Leo stated quickly, clearly trying to keep from panicking._

" _Hmm," Remus said, smirking, feeling certain that he had caught Leo in a lie. "Why don't I just confirm that with Professor Dumbledore?"_

_He placed Leo's I.D. card into his pocket. "You can have this back once Professor Dumbledore confirms your story."_

_Leo simply nodded in response, and Remus promptly turned around and walked away._

_It was after dinnertime by the time Remus had made his way to Dumbledore's office. As Leo hadn't made an appearance since their encounter that morning, Remus had to assume that he had chosen to lie low in the hopes that he wouldn't get in trouble._

" _Good evening, Professor Dumbledore," Remus greeted, entering Dumbledore's office._

" _Hello, Remus," Dumbledore greeted happily. "What may I do for you?"_

_Remus placed Leo's I.D. on the desk._

_Dumbledore picked the card up and studied it closely._

" _Ah, I see you have found Mr. Black's I.D.," he stated, his blue eyes twinkling. "He, too, is a new staff member, here."_

_Remus felt shocked at this information, having felt quite certain that the I.D. had been fake._

" _Mr. Black would have just turned seventeen, Professor," he stated, feeling rather confused. "Surely, he cannot be a staff member here."_

" _Ah, but indeed he is, Remus," Dumbledore stated simply. "Seeing as you are already familiar with him, perhaps you would be willing to show him around. He most unfortunately hasn't had the chance to attend Hogwarts as a student."_

_Remus did his best to hold back a scoff, his contempt for Sirius Black far superseding his curiosity as to why Leo didn't attend Hogwarts. "No, thank you," he said as politely as he could._

_Dumbledore sighed, looking uncharacteristically disappointed. "You should not let your opinion of Leo's father cloud your judgement of Leo, himself. He could certainly use a friend or at very least a familiar face."_

_Remus sighed defeatedly. "I will try," he stated dishonestly. Rather than attempting to be kind to Leo, Remus simply decided that he would avoid the young man at all costs. He would, however, intervene if Leo attempted to hurt the students, especially Harry, who would certainly be a major target if Leo believed that his father's actions were correct._

* * *

"If I had known the life that he had escaped not too long before, I would _never_ have treated him that poorly, regardless of whose son he was," Remus stated firmly. "The fact that he handled it so well…" He sighed and shook his head, his eyes filling with tears.

"You didn't know, Remus," Harry stated, placing a hand on his former professor's shoulder. "It is not your fault."

Remus quickly wiped his eyes and nodded. "But I could've made things much easier for him," he stated. "And I didn't. I likely made them much much more difficult than they needed to be. And I need to take responsibility for that. Furthermore, I should've realized that things weren't as they seemed. He was much much too thin, he could hardly read or write, he was no longer displaying any magical ability."

"But as soon as you realized your mistake, you did everything you could to make things right," Mr. Weasley insisted. "You taught him how to read and write properly. You tried your best to get to know him. You even threw him a birthday party. You have certainly done everything you could to redeem yourself, Remus."

* * *

_**July 8, 1995 (Remus' POV)** _

_It wasn't too long after Voldemort's return that Dumbledore reestablished the Order of the Phoenix and set up headquarters at Sirius Black's family home, 12 Grimmauld Place. Now that every former member and potential addition to the Order had been contacted, the first meeting could take place. As the Ministry of Magic still adamantly refused to believe that Voldemort had truly returned, it was a priority of the Order to ensure Harry Potter's safety. It was more than likely one of Voldemort's main goals to do whatever he needed to to get to Harry before the Ministry took notice._

_Just after sunset, all of the members of the second Order of the Phoenix filed into the dining room of 12 Grimmauld Place._

_Among the last to enter was Severus Snape, followed closely by Leo Black, Sirius' son who had been born at the beginning of Remus and his friends' sixth year._

" _Hi, Severus," Remus greeted politely. "Hi, L-Leo." His calm, neutral demeanor faltered somewhat after seeing Leo. After James and Lily Potter were killed and Peter Pettigrew framed Sirius for their murder, Remus had refused to take in Leo, believing firmly that Sirius had been a murderer. Because of this, he had only seen Leo again over a decade later during the time he worked as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. While Remus had since quit his job at Hogwarts, after it was publicly revealed that he was a werewolf, Leo continued working at Hogwarts as caretaker Argus Filch's assistant. During the time that Remus had taught at Hogwarts, he treated Leo rather cruelly, ignoring him as often as he could and snapping at him harshly whenever he actually did interact with him. Since realizing that Sirius was not a murderer, Remus deeply regretted his actions but hadn't found the words or time to express this to Leo._

" _Hello," Leo greeted stiffly._

" _How have you been?" Remus asked awkwardly._

" _I've been alright," Leo answered simply. "And you?"_

" _Just fine, thanks," Remus answered with a smile._

" _Now that everyone is here," Dumbledore announced, luckily for Remus who, despite desperately wanting to interact with Leo, had been losing confidence each moment he stood face-to-face with him. "Let's start this meeting."_

_Throughout the meeting, Remus noticed that Leo didn't seem to know too much about the false information that was printed in the Daily Prophet and a number of other newspapers. He found this rather odd as it was generally agreed upon that every member of the Order read at very least the Daily Prophet delivered the morning of the meeting._

" _It seems like someone feels that they're too good to keep up to date," Sirius said scathingly, after Leo once again hadn't been aware of something that everyone else had read in the Daily Prophet sent out two days ago. While Remus had to admit that it was obvious that Leo hadn't read the newspapers, it was also clear that Leo hadn't done this out of entitlement. In fact, Leo appeared rather embarrassed by his lack of knowledge. Having known quite well how it felt to not have access to news, Remus felt sympathetic towards the young man._

" _You can use my notes, Leo," Remus offered, taking a stack of papers out of his knapsack. He had been taking on various newspaper articles over the past several weeks._

" _Oh, no, it's alright," Leo insisted quickly._

" _I insist," Remus said with a small smile._

" _Thank you," Leo said, somewhat reluctantly accepting the notes._

" _Not a problem," Remus stated kindly. "I know what it's like to feel out of the loop."_

_Throughout the rest of the meeting, Leo hadn't said much. Remus could only assume that Sirius' words had embarrassed him a bit._

_It was only at the end of the meeting that Remus realized that Leo's lack of knowledge of current events may not have been entirely related to a lack of access to newspapers._

_As he had done at the end of every meeting since the very first Order meeting in the seventies, Dumbledore passed an attendance sheet around for each Order member to sign. This allowed Dumbledore to keep track of who was present at which meetings and who needed to be filled in on specific ideas and decisions. When the quill and parchment made their way to Leo, Remus noticed that he seemed entirely confused, turning to Snape seemingly for help. After a few seconds, Leo awkwardly held the quill in his hand, much like a young child who was just learning how to write, and throughout his clumsy writing, he asked Snape for more assistance. Remus hadn't been sitting close enough to see Leo's signature, but he had to guess it must've looked rather odd. When the attendance sheet finally got to Remus, he quickly scanned the parchment for Leo's name which looked as though it was written by a small child, very much as Remus had predicted. Leo had simply spelled out in all uppercase the three letters that made up his name, which was actually a nickname for his full first name "Leonard"._

_Remus then realized that, if Leo was having so much trouble writing, there was a rather high chance that Leo couldn't read too well either._

" _Thank you, again, for the notes, Professor Lupin," Leo said graciously, handing Remus back the stack of notes._

_Remus felt a surge of guilt and regret upon hearing Leo addressing him as "Professor Lupin" rather than "Uncle Remus", as he had when he was a child._

" _No problem, Leo," Remus responded. "And you are welcome to just call me 'Remus'. I'll admit it was stupid and cruel of me to force you to call me 'Professor' when I was never your professor. I'm truly sorry."_

_Leo gave a small smile. "It's alright, Prof-Remus. I suppose we all do stupid things sometimes."_

_Just as Leo turned to walk away, Remus spoke again._

" _If you'd like, I'd be willing to go over current events and updates with you before meetings," he offered. "I find that it sometimes helps to talk the information out."_

" _That'd be great," Leo said nonchalantly, but Remus could see his eyes lighting up._

" _Wonderful," Remus responded, fully intending to, not only help keep Leo up to date, but also help improve Leo's reading and writing._

* * *

Remus nodded in agreement, although Harry could tell that he wasn't entirely convinced.

Kingsley suddenly turned to Snape. "Are you certain you can't give us any more information on where the mansion was located, Severus?" he asked, reminding Harry and everyone else that, despite what everyone had just heard, the meeting was still going on. "I would hate to ask Leo to relive more than he needs to."

"Is there any way we can get the information without asking Leo?" James asked. "It's clear that what happened to him still affects him quite a bit. He hasn't left his room since hearing that the Carrows are still at large."

Everyone remained silent in thought for a few minutes. Harry had no idea of what to say. On one hand, he knew that Leo was the best possible source they had on the Carrows. However, on the other hand, he felt that it was unfair to force Leo to talk about his past. Harry, himself, was extremely hesitant to talk about his life with the Dursleys, and the Carrows made them seem loving and nurturing.

"Perhaps we should ask Leo what he's willing to speak about," Lily suggested. "If he refuses outright, we won't force him to. We'll find the Carrows some other way. But if he wants to, even just a little bit, we'll let him speak about whatever he feels comfortable with."

Kingsley nodded in agreement. "Severus, I think out of all of us, you're the one Leo's the most comfortable with," he stated. "Would you be willing to ask if he would be comfortable giving us some more information on the Carrows?"

Snape sighed deeply and sat in thought for a moment before nodding, standing up, and leaving the room.

"I'll go get Sirius," James offered, hurrying out of the room.

A tense silence filled the room as everyone waited for Severus and James to return, hopefully along with Leo and Sirius.

It wasn't too long until Sirius came storming into the room, a nervous-looking James following closely behind, apparently attempting to calm Sirius down.

"You will not force Leo to talk about what happened to him!" Sirius screamed at Kingsley, who only appeared mildly surprised at Sirius' behaviour. "You have no right to do that!"

"Sirius-" Remus started, standing up.

"Don't 'Sirius' me!" Sirius furiously turned to Remus. "That child has been beaten, tortured, and raped since he was _FIVE YEARS OLD_ and you all want him to relive all that! I will not let you do that! IT WILL NOT HAPPEN!"

Kingsley sighed. "I understand that you're hesitant to have him answer questions. We all are," he reasoned calmly. "But the fact of the matter is that he is the only one here who has any substantial knowledge of the Carrows' French mansion, and one of the only people who truly knows what the Carrows are like in hiding. He'd be able to give us some insight as to where they might be and how they might behave."

Sirius didn't say anything in response, choosing simply to glare at Kingsley.

After a few tense moments, Snape entered the room with Leo following reluctantly behind.

"Hello, Leo," Kingsley greeted kindly. "It's nice to see you."

"Hello," Leo stated, looking uncharacteristically nervous. Despite all that Leo had been through, Harry had rarely seen him appear vulnerable. "Severus said you all wanted me to answer some questions."

"Only if you're alright with it," Remus assured quickly, likely noticing the mutinous look on Sirius' face.

Leo shrugged unconvincingly. "I suppose I'd be alright as long as the questions aren't too...personal."

"Of course," Kingsley stated reassuringly. "We only need to know information pertaining to the Carrows' potential actions and whereabouts. Anything that may involve you personally need not be discussed. If ever you feel uncomfortable with a question, you will not be obligated to answer."

Leo nodded before somewhat reluctantly sitting down. "Well, what exactly do you want to know?"

Over the next several minutes, Leo answered a number of questions, mostly asked by Remus and Kingsley, all of which Leo answered quite bravely, in Harry's opinion. He felt that the information that Leo had given painted a rather strong picture of where the Carrows could be and how they would be behaving.

"I think that might be all," Kingsley said. "Unless anyone else has any more questions."

"I 'ave one," Mundungus Fletcher said brashly. "How eager were the Deathies for you, and did the Carrows make you take multiple at once?"

Some people gasped, while most simply chose to glare furiously at Mundungus for his extremely inappropriate question. The terrified and humiliated look on Leo's pale face caused Harry's anger to surge. Before anyone could chastise Mundungus, Sirius promptly stood up and punched Mundungus square in the face.

"What the bleedin' 'ell was that for?!" Mundungus asked, clutching his nose which was bleeding rather profusely.

"HOW DARE YOU ASK HIM THAT, YOU PIECE OF SHIT?!" Sirius shouted at Mundungus, as Remus and James struggled to hold him back.

"Let's just calm down," Kingsley said calmly, however, Harry could tell by the look in his eyes that he was enraged.

Once everyone was once again seated, Kingsley spoke again.

"Now, while physical violence should solely be used as a _defensive_ measure," he said pointedly. "Sirius was quite right to be upset with your question, Mundungus. Why did you think that that was an appropriate thing to say?"

"I thought the goal was to understand more about the Carrows!" Mundungus argued.

"And how was asking _that_ going to tell us about where the Carrows could be and what they could be doing?" James growled, looking nearly as furious as Sirius.

Mundungus scoffed and stared around as though the answer was obvious. "If the Deathies really like Leo, we could just use him as bait," he stated simply, before turning to Leo, who was clearly working very hard to control his emotions. "No offense, mate, really. But it'd save us quite a bit of trouble."

"That's it!" Mrs. Weasley stated forcefully, standing up and pointing her wand at Mundungus. "Get out!"

While Mundungus was attempting to reason with the others in the room as to why he should be allowed to stay, Leo appeared entirely spaced-out.

"Leo, love," Lily said soothingly. "No one is going to hurt you. Mundungus is just being an arse."

Leo didn't show even the slightest sign of having heard Lily's words, simply staring straight ahead.

"Leo?" Lily placed her arm on Leo's arm, causing Leo to jump out of his seat, cowering in fear.

"Leo, are you alright, love?" Lily asked, looking rather concerned, as did several others in the room. Harry had never seen Leo give that strong of an emotional response to anything.

Leo blinked momentarily, before looking around at everyone, slowly seeming to realize where he was.

"Oh, erm, sorry," he stammered awkwardly, getting out of his crouched position before sitting back down into his chair, his face pink with embarrassment. "I suppose I... just forgot myself for a moment."

"I don't need to answer Mundungus' question, do I?" he asked Kingsley. While Leo's hands were shaking quite furiously, Harry had to commend him for his ability to keep his voice and demeanor as calm as he did.

"Absolutely not," Kingsley assured. "His question and statement were both entirely out of line. In fact, I feel it would be best if Mundungus left."

"Really?" Mundungus growled.

"Yes," Kingsley stated firmly. Mundungus promptly stood up and left, grumbling the entire time that he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Are there any more _appropriate_ questions?" Kingsley asked. Everyone, including Harry himself, shook their heads.

"I would just like to say thank you, Leo, for answering our questions," James said, smiling gently at Leo. "It was very brave of you to even speak about the Carrows after what they put you through."

Several others nodded in agreement.

"It's no problem, really," Leo insisted, with a shrug, attempting to seem nonchalant.

After several more minutes of discussion, the meeting came to an end, and Mrs. Weasley along with a few others finished cooking dinner.

Waiting for dinner to be ready, Harry quietly scanned the room. He watched as Marlene rather awkwardly approached Ron.

"Hi," she said with a small smile. "I just wanted to apologize for what I said. I hadn't realized what you and your peers had to go through."

Ron simply shrugged, clearly attempting to seem nonchalant. Unlike Harry, Ron took quite a while to forgive, especially if he felt that someone had wronged his friends or family.

"You had some really great ideas," Marlene said almost urgently, as Ron turned to leave. "Sending groups of us to the different potential Death Eater sites was brilliant."

"Thanks," Ron said, sounding surprised. "Your ideas were cool, too."

Harry had to chuckle to himself, as, despite all that Ron had done throughout the war against Voldemort, he still seemed to have trouble acknowledging that he was a smart and capable wizard.

"Thanks," Marlene said before gasping suddenly, pointing at the bright orange wristband that Ron was wearing. "Are you a Cannons fan, too?!"

"Yes," Ron gasped excitedly.

"My friends and family always make fun of me for it," Marlene said earnestly. "But I will always support the Cannons. Go orange or go home!"

"Exactly!" Ron exclaimed.

"Please tell me they've been doing better," Marlene said eagerly, crossing her fingers.

Ron sighed disappointedly. "No," he groaned, causing Marlene to pout. "They're worse than they've ever been. But I know a win has to be on the way. All they need is a few good players."

"It's only a matter of time," Marlene agreed.

Ron and Marlene continued discussing quidditch, while Harry continued scanning the room. He was happy to see that Leo appeared rather happy, chatting joyfully with Tonks and Dorothy Merritt, Tonks' friend who was also an auror. Leo had grown quite close with the pair of them over the year that he had interacted with them, as they had been the only other Order members who had been near his age. Harry noticed that, while Remus, James, and Lily were sitting together comfortably speaking, Sirius sat a little bit away from everyone else, staring off sadly.

"Is everything alright, Sirius?" Harry asked, walking up to his godfather.

"Oh, hi, Harry," Sirius said distractedly, clearly unaware of what Harry had just said.

"Are you alright, Sirius?" Harry repeated.

Sirius nodded unconvincingly, causing Harry to raise an eyebrow, before casting a Muffliato Charm, feeling that Sirius would be more comfortable if he felt that he wouldn't be overheard.

"I can't believe I treated Leo so badly," Sirius said quietly, looking nearly as pained as he had when he finally accepted that Leo had died. "After all he'd been through, he needed a loving home, and I couldn't give him that."

Harry sighed, thinking of his words very carefully before speaking. "If you knew what he'd been through, would you have acted differently?"

"Of course!" Sirius answered earnestly, seeming to quite nearly forget that he was in a room full of people. "I would've done everything I could have to make him feel safe and comfortable and loved."

"Then why torture yourself?" Harry asked. "You didn't know then, Sirius, but you _do_ now. And I know you'll do everything in your power to make things right."

After several seconds in silence, Sirius finally nodded.

"I just can't believe how well he hid it," Sirius said, looking over at Leo, who was laughing at something Dorothy had said.

Harry nodded in agreement. "I guess sometimes it's just easier to pretend everything's alright, than to admit that something's wrong," he stated, thinking about his own childhood. "When you look at people with normal, happy childhoods, I suppose it feels embarrassing to admit that your own wasn't."

"It makes you feel like something's wrong with you," Sirius added. "Like you weren't worth a good childhood, and you don't want others to find out."

It wasn't long before dinner was over, and everyone other than Harry, James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and Teddy left. As he was making his way to bed, Harry watched as Sirius nervously made his way to Leo. The father and son spoke for a few seconds before hugging tightly. Harry could tell that Sirius was placing several years worth of unspoken words and regret into the hug. As he closed the door to his bedroom, Harry couldn't help but smile to himself, feeling that Sirius and Leo were truly on their way to repairing their broken relationship.


	7. Chapter 7

Much to Harry's surprise, breakfast had gone quite well. He had been expecting quite a bit of awkwardness, as Remus and Sirius, and to a lesser extent the others in the room, clearly felt extremely guilty over what they had learned about Leo's childhood. He also imagined that Leo must have felt at least a bit uncomfortable knowing that everyone now knew the secret that he had spent so long trying to keep hidden.

"Leo, if you don't mind me asking," Tonks started, placing Teddy in his highchair. "Why are you always in long sleeves? Even on the warmest days in the summer. Not that it's a problem. I'm just curious."

Leo remained quiet for a moment. Harry felt certain that he would simply decline to answer Tonk's question, as it was clear from Leo's expression that the answer was quite personal.

"I have some...marks all over my body," Leo admitted somewhat hesitantly. "I thought it was easier to just cover them up rather than having to explain."

"I did the same thing at Hogwarts," Remus told Leo with a small smile, the variety of scars that were scattered along his arms clearly visible as he wore a short-sleeved t-shirt. "Even now, I can't imagine sitting like this among those who don't know."

"Has it made it easier, you know, having someone else know?" Leo asked.

Remus nodded. "In many ways, it has," he said. "I used to go through absurd lengths trying to cover them up, making sure no one knew. I remember my first few years at Hogwarts, I would always wait for everyone else to leave the dormitory before changing clothes. Having people accept me as I was, even with knowing about my scars, truly changed my life."

Leo nodded slowly, taking in Remus' words. "Would it be alright if I...if I showed you the marks on my arms?"

"Of course, if you feel comfortable," James assured.

"If it helps, everyone at this table has seen my scars and hasn't treated me any differently for them," Remus added.

Leo once again nodded slowly before hesitantly removing his jumper. While Harry had mentally prepared himself for something terrible, given the little he knew of what Leo had been through with the Carrows, the images he created in his mind were nothing compared to what he saw. While the black t-shirt Leo wore under his jumper covered his back, chest, and shoulders, the marks that were visible were horrendous. Unlike Remus' scars which, despite being various sizes, ages, and severity, all clearly came from the same source, Leo's marks appeared to be from a variety of sources. All along his arms were cigarette burns, curse marks, knife scars, among other marks, and while the injuries were healed and mostly faded, Harry could tell that some of them must've been rather painful at one point.

"The ones on my back are worse," Leo said quietly after several seconds, pulling his jumper back on. "Severus wasn't able to fade them away like the arm and leg ones."

"I know a brilliant tattoo artist," Sirius said suddenly. "I had a rather bad curse scar on my arm that couldn't be faded, and she covered it quite well."

Sirius showed his left forearm which had a lion breathing red and gold flames.

"That's beautiful," Leo said, looking quite interested. "Do you think she could come up with something for my back?"

"I don't see why not," Sirius said, clearly attempting to seem nonchalant. "I could take you to her sometime. Maybe we could even get matching tattoos, if you want to that is. I just thought it might be nice, you know, seeing as we don't have too many good memories together."

"You mean our weird one-sided conversations weren't good?" Leo said, smirking mischievously.

Sirius chuckled and rolled his eyes playfully. "Must you remind me of my worst moments?"

"Of course. It's my job as your son," Leo said. "And while I certainly think you and I need some good memories, especially as you spent nearly all your adult life in a tiny cell, I _do_ have a few good memories of my own."

This seemed to catch Sirius slightly by surprise. "Clear ones?" he asked, likely thinking, as Harry did, that Leo must've vaguely remembered small moments from before he had lived with the Carrows.

"Yes," Leo responded simply.

"With the Carrows?" Sirius asked, looking very shocked.

"Oh, Merlin, no," Leo said, looking shocked that Sirius would even think that. "No, I mean after all that."

"But I was awful to you," Sirius said guiltily.

"My view of 'awful' is clearly quite different from yours," Leo stated, smirking slightly. "And you weren't the only person I interacted with."

"Why don't you tell us about your good memories?" Lily asked happily.

"Well, there was the first time I read a book by myself," Leo said with a smile. "And the times Remus would go over the newspaper information with me. Oh, and the first time I took a shower."

* * *

_**August 2, 1993 (Leo's POV)** _

_When Leo woke up, he had half-expected the events of the last twelve or so hours to have been a dream. A wonderful dream where a severe but ultimately good-hearted woman called Severus had rescued him from his miserable existence with the Carrows. Keeping his eyes shut tightly, he had convinced himself that, when he opened his eyes, he would be in his dark cell in the Carrows' basement, waiting for either Amycus or Alecto to drag him out._

_It took Leo a few minutes to realize that the floor of his cell felt completely different than it usually had, it felt oddly soft, squishy, and almost uncomfortably warm. His head had also felt strangely elevated as though he was laying on top of something, perhaps his arm, although he felt both of his arms stretched out at his sides._

_There was only one place that Leo had recalled feeling like this, and that was the guest bedroom of the Carrow mansion, where Amycus and Alecto Carrow had often rented Leo out to their friends. On occasion these people would force Leo to sleep on the bed next to them, although, more often, he would be forced to sleep on the floor._

_Leo sighed before slowly opening his eyes, fully expecting to see a sleeping Death Eater lying next to him. He was completely shocked to find himself alone on a bed, fully clothed, in a room that he didn't recognize at all. The room was dark with deep green furnishings. Before Leo could figure out where he was the door opened slightly._

" _Good morning," the woman he had met yesterday greeted curtly. Leo noticed that she was holding two sacks. "I have some things for you."_

_Leo simply nodded, still trying to overcome the shock he felt at realizing the event's of the night before had actually happened. Upon noticing the slightly irritated look on Severus's face, he quickly scrambled out of bed and walked over to her._

_Severus gestured to one of two chairs, before sitting down herself. Leo quickly sat down, allowing Severus to begin speaking._

" _This bag," Severus gestured to the slightly larger sack. "Contains clothing for you. There are six tops, three pairs of trousers, a few pairs of socks and underwear, two jumpers, a pair of pajamas, a pair of trainers, a pair of work shoes, and two sets of work robes."_

" _And this bag," Severus continued, much too quickly in Leo's opinion, as he hardly understood the items she had listed for the other bag. The only terms he had known were "robes" and "trousers". "Contains a range of toiletries. Any questions?"_

_Leo looked at Severus with confusion, not even sure where to begin._

" _I don't really understand what any of those things are," he stated awkwardly, hoping that Severus wouldn't be irritated at him enough to send him back to the Carrows._

_Severus sighed, thankfully looking only slightly irritated, before going on to explain each article of clothing and each of the toiletries, "soap" being the only one that he understood, although he had never seen it in bar form._

" _Any more questions?" Severus repeated._

" _No, thank you, ma'am," Leo said sincerely. "And thank you for everything, ma'am. It's really very kind of you."_

" _It's truly the bare minimum of what you deserve," Severus stated with a slight smile. "And I would suggest you take a shower. Breakfast will be starting in about an hour."_

" _What is that?" Leo asked sheepishly, feeling increasingly stupid._

_Severus sighed before leading Leo over to the bathroom._

" _This is a shower," Severus said, pointing to a rectangular shape area of the bathroom, blocked off by a glass door. Leo noticed a large metal square with holes in it on the ceiling above it. "You press this button to turn on the water. The temperature will regulate itself to fit your needs."_

_Leo simply nodded, still feeling rather confused._

" _What am I supposed to do with the shower?" he asked._

" _You clean yourself," Severus explained, a slight edge to her voice. "Surely, you know what that means."_

_Leo nodded in understanding. The Carrows would always make him remove all his clothes and would clean him off outside with their wands whenever he had to entertain one of their guests. Most of the time, they would spray him with soap just before spraying him with ice cold water._

" _Alright," Severus said with an air of finality. "I will be back here at eight o'clock to escort you to breakfast."_

_With that, Severus left the room._

_Leo walked over to the table where he and Severus had sat not too long ago, gathering a pair of trousers, a t-shirt, a pair of socks, and a pair of underpants, along with the sack of toiletries._

_After brushing his teeth as Severus had explained to him, Leo took off his clothes and threw them in a basket in the corner. He took a deep breath before sliding open the shower door and stood under the large metal square. He hesitantly pressed the button and, just as Severus had explained, water fell from the square. Leo closed his eyes in anticipation, fully expecting the water to be cold and harsh like the water the Carrows would spray him with. Much to his surprise, the water was comfortably warm. After washing his hair, face, and body and carefully shaving, Leo stood in the shower, savouring the feel of the warm water on his skin which, for the first time in his memory, felt truly clean. After several minutes, Leo reluctantly turned the water off before grabbing a warm, fluffy towel and drying himself off._

"I'm not sure if that was the first time I ever used a shower," Leo said. "But it is the first time I can remember. It was amazing."

"I'm quite sure it _was_ the first time you used a shower," Sirius confirmed with a small but sad smile. "I had only planned to let you start showering when you were seven or eight."

"Oh," Leo remarked, looking somewhat surprised. "How would I wash before then?"

"Typically baths, tubs of warm water that you sit in. Sometimes, you can add bubbles or bath salts. Children often have bath toys," Sirius explained, likely noticing the confusion on Leo's face at the term "bath". "You and Harry took baths together sometimes, once Harry was old enough of course."

"We didn't really need to know that part," Leo stated, jokingly cringing.

"Agreed," said Harry.

"Oh, we have pictures," James announced enthusiastically, running over to one of the half unpacked boxes that were retrieved from the Potter home a few days prior. After a few minutes, he came running back, flicking through a large book that Harry could only guess was a photo album.

"Here it is," he said excitedly, pointing to a picture of one-year-old Harry laughing hysterically at five-year-old Leo, who was piling magical colour-changing bubbles on his own head.

"Aww, that's actually quite sweet," Leo said, blushing slightly. "Mortifying, but sweet."

"It can't be more mortifying than this," Tonks said, pointing out a picture of naked one-year-old Harry dancing with his back turned to the camera.

Harry groaned, covering his face, which he was certain was quite red.

After several more minutes of looking through Harry's baby pictures, many of which Leo was in, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," Sirius said, mid-laughter, as everyone had just found a picture of baby Harry fingerpainting James' face while he was sleeping.

"Hi, everyone!" Dorothy greeted jovially several seconds later, Sirius following behind. "I'm just here to pick up these two." She pulled both Tonks and Leo into side hugs.

This didn't come as much of a surprise to Harry as both Leo and Tonks had mentioned that they had plans to spend the day catching up with each other.

After a few minutes, Tonks, Leo, and Dorothy all left.

"Were you able to speak with Leo last night?" James asked Sirius.

"Yes," Sirius responded with a small smile.

* * *

_**May 7, 1999 (Sirius' POV)** _

" _May I speak with you for a moment?" Sirius asked Leo nervously._

" _Alright," Leo said somewhat reluctantly, stepping aside as he opened his bedroom door so that Sirius could walk inside._

_Both Sirius and Leo remained quiet as they both sat down, Leo on his bed and Sirius on an armchair._

" _Are you alright?" Sirius asked, wanting first and foremost to ensure that Leo was okay._

_Leo looked rather surprised at Sirius' question. "Erm, yeah, I'm fine," he responded quizzically. "The Carrow thing happened a while ago."_

" _I wasn't referring to what happened at the Carrows," Sirius said honestly. "That is entirely up to you to discuss if and when you want to. I was actually referring to the events of this evening."_

" _Oh," Leo said in surprise, appearing rather grateful. "Well, I suppose I wasn't expecting to have everyone...you know, figure out everything that happened with the Carrows. I mean, I_ knew _it would have to happen eventually, especially with the Carrows being out there somewhere and my reaction to that, which, to be completely honest, I wasn't really expecting either. But I suppose it makes sense. I haven't really talked about it at all really. And then there was that thing with Mundungus, which was…"_

_Leo's voice quieted out at the end, and he looked up at Sirius._

" _What Mundungus said was entirely out of line," Sirius assured Leo. "Your reaction was perfectly understandable."_

_Leo immediately shook his head. "I shouldn't have freaked out like that," he said, looking quite embarrassed. "I don't even understand why I did. I'm usually really good at controlling my emotions. Years with the Carrows certainly teaches you that."_

_Leo chuckled dryly._

" _You were with the Carrows for twelve years. That's more than half your life so far," Sirius reasoned. "It's perfectly normal for certain situations to trigger bad memories."_

" _Does it happen to you, you know, because of Azkaban?" Leo asked._

" _All the time," Sirius assured sympathetically. "And I get flashbacks, nightmares, panic attacks, sometimes bouts of sadness or anger, other times I'd just feel numb."_

" _And how do you usually deal with it?" Leo asked in a quiet but hopeful voice._

" _At first, I would drink quite a lot whenever things got too much," Sirius admitted, feeling that it was better to tell Leo the truth rather than make the situation seem more appealing than it was. "But, after losing you, Molly helped me find healthier methods. Sometimes speaking with close friends, other times taking walks outside. It really depends on what you personally feel that you need in that moment."_

_Leo looked up at Sirius, seeming rather confused. "You said, after losing me, you found healthier coping methods, but wouldn't it have been worse closer to when you escaped?"_

_"One would think so," Sirius said reasonably. "But I can tell you right now, losing a child is much much worse than anything the dementors could do to me."_

_"Really?" Leo said with a mixture of confusion and concern._

_"Oh, yes," Sirius confirmed. "When I was in Azkaban, I always imagined myself dying there eventually, but after you died, I didn't care about living anymore at all. In all honesty, I didn't even want to live anymore."_

_"Did it make your Azkaban memories worse, you know, me dying?" Leo asked guiltily._

_"First of all, it was not in any way your fault. You did not ask that Death Eater to murder you," Sirius said, hoping Leo could feel his sincerity. "And, of course, it did. When I was in Azkaban, most of what I thought about was you. The way I treated you after Harry was born, the fact that you'd have to grow up believing I was a murderer. The way I treated you that last year unfortunately had a lot more to do with anger at myself than anger at you. And all I could think about after you died was that I failed you your whole life."_

_"And don't you dare try and tell me I didn't because I did," he added after Leo opened his mouth to argue. "Everything hurt so much worse after losing you, but like I said before, I just had to consider what I needed whenever the pain got too much, and after a while, it did get better."_

_Leo nodded, appearing to take in Sirius' words. "Would it be alright if I came to you?" he asked somewhat nervously after a few moments of comfortable silence. "Not every time, just, you know, if I...if I need someone to talk to."_

_Sirius' heart broke at how quickly Leo added that last part._

" _Of course, Leo," he responded sincerely. "Whenever you want to talk, you can always come to me."_

_Leo gave a small smile. "Thanks, Dad."_

" _Anything else you want to talk about?" Sirius asked gently, noticing that it seemed that Leo was holding something back._

" _It just...Do you think everyone will look at me differently now that they know?" Leo asked._

" _What do you mean by 'differently', love?" Sirius asked in response._

_Leo sighed. "I suppose I'm just worried everyone will start skirting around me," he admitted. "Scared of triggering the next big breakdown or something."_

_Sirius hadn't been surprised at Leo's words, as he, too, had felt like this both in 1995 when the majority of his friends had discovered that he was wrongly imprisoned and just before he explained the Azkaban situation to James and Lily and a number of his other friends who had died in the first part of the war._

" _Do you want the honest answer or the one that'll make you feel better?" Sirius asked._

" _Let's go with the honest one," Leo said._

" _I knew you'd say that," Sirius said with a small smile. "Well, there will certainly be people who will treat you differently in the sense that they'll be afraid to interact with you."_

_Leo's face fell slightly. "I thought as much," he said, sounding very disappointed._

" _But there will also be people who will recognize that bravery and strength it takes to go through what you've been through and still be able to get out of bed everyday," Sirius said solemnly. "And those people will also treat you differently on occasion, but not in the sense that they'll be careful around you. Rather, they'll treat you with added respect when necessary."_

" _What do you mean?" Leo asked curiously._

" _Typically, do Remus, James, and Lily treat me any differently from any of their other friends?" Sirius asked, feeling that it would be easier to explain what he meant in an example._

" _No," Leo answered._

" _Exactly," Sirius said. "But, during the last few years of the war when the dementors joined forces with Voldemort and were basically flying around all over Britain, both Remus and Tonks always made sure I was comfortable whenever Dumbledore gave me a task that might include accidental dementor encounters. And they always offered to go places with me if I felt uncomfortable going outside."_

" _That's really nice," Leo said, looking surprised. "Didn't they feel worried you were going to freak out or something?"_

" _If they did, they never showed it," Sirius said. "And whenever I had a difficult moment, they would always stay with me until I was alright."_

_Leo nodded in understanding. "So, you're saying my true friends will stand by me?"_

" _Of course, they will," Sirius assured. "And if they don't, then you'll know that they weren't true friends in the first place. And you'll still have me."_

_Leo chuckled quietly. "Thanks, Dad."_

" _Anytime, dear," Sirius said._

* * *

"How did you handle losing him?" Lily asked Sirius with a sad look on her face. "I can't even imagine."

Sirius sighed sadly. "It was the worst time of my life, those first few months."

* * *

_**August 30, 1996 (Sirius' POV)** _

_Not for the first time since Leo's death, Sirius had passed out after yet another a night of drinking. At first he had been able to handle the pain, however, after Leo's funeral, Sirius hit rock bottom. With Leo buried, a beautiful marble gravestone marking his resting place, Sirius could no longer cling to the hope that his son would magically wake up. To deal with his unbearable pain, Sirius took to drinking. At first, it had been just one or two drinks, just enough to get him drunk enough not to think about Leo, but it didn't take very long before he was finishing at least five bottles of firewhisky a night. Last night had been particularly difficult for him, particularly once the clock struck twelve, signalling the start of what would've been Leo's twentieth birthday._

" _That is it!" Molly's shrill voice shouted much too loudly in Sirius' opinion. "You're filthy, you haven't showered in weeks! You haven't been showing up to Order meetings! The Minister of Magic is coming over in two hours to offer your official pardon and Order of Merlin, and you have made no plan to get ready!"_

_Molly's rant continued, causing Sirius' head to pound._

" _I need a drink," he groaned._

" _No, you do not!" Molly shouted. "You are surrounded by at least ten firewhisky bottles! At this rate, you'll drink yourself to death!"_

" _Maybe that's what I want!" Sirius shouted back angrily._

" _And what good would that do?!" Molly asked harshly. "What would Leo think of that?!"_

_Sirius angrily jumped up at Molly's mention of Leo's name. "Well, I can't ask him, c-can I?" he began hyperventilating, quickly remembering why he had drank so much in the first place. "H-he's g-g-gone. M-my...my b-b-baby...my little b-boy… he's d-d-dead. A-and my life is nothing, it's worthless, without him!"_

_Sirius sank to the floor, sobbing._

" _Oh, Sirius," Molly sighed, gently rubbing Sirius' back in a way his own mother never had._

" _I really n-need a d-drink," Sirius hiccupped, once his sobs finally subsided._

" _Why do you want to drink?" Molly asked him gently._

" _It's not that I_ want _to drink," Sirius said, attempting to collect his thoughts. "It's just… when I'm drunk, I forget...and for a moment, the pain goes away… I-I just want the pain to go away."_

_Sirius began sobbing again, and this time, Molly cradled him in her arms, similar to the way Sirius had seen her hold her own children when they were upset._

" _I know it hurts," Molly said gently once Sirius' sobs quieted. "But if you forget that Leo died, you would need to forget that Leo ever lived. Do you want that?"_

_At first Sirius wanted to say "yes", feeling desperate to forget his son's death and the pain it brought. However, he soon began thinking about all of the beautiful moments he had spent with his little boy, the first time he held Leo in his arms, the first time he said "Dada", his first steps, many many games of hide-and-seek, all of the hugs and cuddles, all of which would have been lost if he had truly forgot about Leo._

" _No, never," Sirius said with conviction._

" _Then, I think it's time we clean ourselves up," Molly said._

_Sirius nodded, standing up, before pulling Molly in for a hug._

" _Thank you, Molly," he said sincerely, feeling for the second time in his life that, while his own mother didn't care for him, he had a mother who did._

* * *

The rest of the morning had gone well, with Harry playing a game of quidditch with Lily, James, and Sirius, while Remus played with Teddy. After several minutes of relaxing after an intense but enjoyable quidditch game, a face appeared in the fireplace.

"Oh, hello, Professor," Harry greeted upon seeing Snape's face.

"Hello, Mr. Potter," Snape greeted with a small smile. "May I enter your home?"

"Of course," Harry said, stepping away from the fireplace so that Snape could jump through.

"Good afternoon," Snape greeted the others in the room, James and Sirius, mumbled in response. "Is Leo here?"

"Why?" Sirius asked immediately, glaring at Snape.

"He's out at the moment," Harry said quickly. "Do you have something for him?"

"I am here on Headmistress McGonagall's orders to offer Leo the job of Hogwarts caretaker," she stated curtly.

"You're welcome to wait here for Leo, if you want," Harry offered, not entirely sure why he was doing so, as he knew it would be just as easy for Snape to floo back and forth.

Much to Harry's surprise, Snape agreed to stay and wait, prompting James and Sirius to leave the room.

"May I get you something to drink, Professor?" Harry asked.

"Just some tea, please," Snape responded warmly.

After about a minute, Harry reentered the sitting room holding two cups of tea.

"One sugar, no milk," he said, handing one of the cups to Snape. "Just as you like it."

"How did you know that?" Snape asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harry smirked. "Despite what you believe, I _am_ capable of paying attention," he said. If he was completely honest, he couldn't quite understand why he had remembered this.

"So, I must assume you simply _refuse_ to pay attention in my class," Snape said with a playful smirk.

Harry chuckled. He had to admit that he had actually missed the banter between them over the past few days, having not had any time to speak with her during the meeting the day before. If he was able to go back in time to even just a year ago and tell himself that he would come to enjoy his interactions with Snape, he never would've believed it, as Snape had been one of the only reasons that he had ever been hesitant to go back to Hogwarts at the end of each summer.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you last night for what you said, you know, defending my friends and I," Harry said somewhat sheepishly. "That was very kind of you, and I really appreciate it."

"All I did was tell the truth," Snape said simply, repeating the words Harry had told her several months ago.

After nearly an hour of comfortably conversing with Snape, Leo and Tonks returned home, after dropping Dorothy off at her flat.

"Oh, hello, Severus," Leo said, sounding surprised as he looked curiously between Harry and Snape.

"Hello, Leo," Snape said, standing up. "Professor McGonagall sent me here to offer you a job as caretaker at Hogwarts."

Leo raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, that sounds great, but what about Filch?"

"He decided to retire after the end of the war," Snape informed him. "Hogwarts has actually been in need of a caretaker for the majority of this year."

"Well, I'd be happy to accept," Leo said with a bright smile, as Tonks cheered enthusiastically.

Snape nodded in acknowledgement. "Professor McGonagall should be in contact with you shortly to discuss salary and start date."

With that, Snape greeted Harry, Leo, and Tonks before flooing back to Hogwarts.

"Did Snape arrive just before Tonks and I did?" Leo asked, glancing at the empty cups of tea.

"Erm, no, she arrived a bit before," Harry admitted, not entirely sure why he was feeling hesitant.

"And you two have just been sitting here waiting for us?" Tonks said, raising an eyebrow.

"Technically, we were waiting for Leo," Harry corrected.

Tonks and Leo looked at each other, smirking as though having a silent conversation.

"What?" Harry asked defensively, feeling rather irritated.

"Nothing, nothing," Leo assured, as Harry glared at him. "It's just nice to see you and Severus getting along, that's all. Surprising, but nice, nonetheless."

"Oh," Harry said in response, agreeing that it must've felt rather odd for both Leo and Tonks to see him and Snape getting along. "I guess it must be a bit strange to see."


End file.
